


Spare

by akaparalian



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, M/M, kakavege week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akaparalian/pseuds/akaparalian
Summary: Third-class warrior Vegeta goes to retrieve the crown prince's little brother, who was sent off to conquer a planet just before the destruction of their homeworld, in the hopes that he'll be able to help them defeat Frieza. It... doesn't go as planned.
Relationships: Son Goku/Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 126





	1. Seba (Truth)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Posting for the first time in a new fandom always reminds me of what the first day of school felt like as a kid, haha. I've enjoyed working on this, and I hope you enjoy reading it! Chapter 2 should be posted later this week, and then Chapter 3 hopefully by the end of the weekend. (There may also end up being a fourth chapter depending on how long the last one gets -- we'll see!)
> 
> Written for the "Alternate versions of themselves/Switch roles" prompts for day 2 of KakaVege Week, June 2020.
> 
> (Also, if at any point you find yourself going, "Oh, this word isn't one I recognize, is there perhaps a conlang in play here?": ...yes. More on that later.)

Queen Gine finds her husband at the creche. 

She hadn't precisely been expecting to find him here, but she can't say that she's particularly surprised, either. By the looks of things, he's come for much the same reason that she has: she's found him staring into their youngest son's nursing capsule, watching as the boy floats quietly, sleeping. Kakarot is the very image of his father; it's almost comical, to see the great King Bardock staring so intensely at what looks like a tiny, round version of himself. Given the circumstances, though, Gine is far from laughing.

In the silence of the creche, broken only by the quiet hum of the capsules which are nurturing the next generation of elite Saiyan warriors, she stares at her husband, at their son, and at the picture that the two make together, and her stomach sinks. She hardly needs confirmation to know that what she's heard is true. 

She is the queen, after all. It only makes sense that she should know what goes on in her own court. And, more than that, it only makes sense that she should know her husband's mind. She looks at him and knows the truth: he is sending their son away.

But she wants to hear it from _his_ lips. She wants him to tell her in _his_ words. 

"Is it true?" she asks him quietly, and immediately gets any confirmation she still needs from the way his eyes harden. Good to know for certain, at least, that her eyes and ears on her husband's council are still as accurate and timely as she's always prided herself on. 

Still, there is something she knows that they can't — knowledge that only she and her husband share. Their son is not the prodigy they have been told to expect, not a warrior destined to outmatch his impressive bloodline and bring great honor and victory to their race, but a boy who would disgrace them all with his weakness, with a power level so low it's almost impossible to believe. And, perhaps even more damning: his purpose on whatever world Bardock has selected for him won't be to conquer it. His purpose will be to die there.

It's something of an elegant solution. They won't be able to hide Kakarot's abysmally low power level for much longer than they already have, and certainly not once the boy's old enough to begin his training. But send him off to conquer a planet while he's barely out of the nursing capsule, and they'll not only re-emphasize the lie they've been telling since his birth — that Kakarot is destined to be even stronger than his brother, who is already a prodigy in his own right — but also neatly take care of any evidence to the contrary. 

And even beyond that, she realizes, as she traces her husband's train of thought to its conclusion — and she is quite confident, now, that she has read his design correctly — it will be easy enough to play her son's death as proof of foul play, given that, _obviously,_ he had been too strong to simply fail. They could pin his "assassination" on any number of enemies of the state, or simply take it as an excuse to wipe whatever unlucky world he's sent to from existence entirely.

Confident as she now is in her understanding of the situation, Gine still wants confirmation. "Why?"

"This is a mercy," the king says shortly, his eyes fixing on his son's nursing capsule for one last, pensive moment before he turns away. "Either he will prove himself, in a way he could never have done if he were to grow up here at court, or he will die, and never know the dishonor he would have brought to his people and his bloodline."

Gine is silent. She thinks, briefly, of the way her husband had smiled when their eldest son had begun his training, and how proud he had been when she told him she was expecting a second, and then she considers the fact that she has found him down here in the creche at all. It means something that he's stopped to explain his logic to her; it means something that it almost sounds as though he is trying to justify this course of action to himself. At the very least, she thinks, he has convinced himself: he truly believes that this is the best opportunity they have to offer their son. This is the best they can do by him, sending him off to a far-flung world where he will almost certainly die, as weak as he is — but it will be an honorable death, at least as far as the people know, and Prince Kakarot will be remembered fondly, with grief and pride, rather than as a weakling and a disgrace.

"If you think it's best," she says, eventually, and watches from the corner of her eye as Bardock nods, his mind clearly made up, and turns to leave. She can easily read his confidence and determination in the set of his shoulders; her lack of protest has been taken for the tacit approval that it is, and clearly Bardock's mind is thoroughly made up now. He pauses in the doorway for just a moment, but says nothing, and then he's gone, leaving only the swish of his cape behind him.

Gine remains focused on her son. She remembers vividly what it had been like when his brother had been this small. Many things had been less complicated then. It's quite telling of the constant, foreboding tension in the air, she thinks, that sending her youngest to his certain death seems on any level to be a reasonable proposition. After all, her eldest is off fighting at Frieza's right hand, a captive and a plaything — that, in many ways, she regards as worse than death. In sparing Kakarot not only the torment and derision he would no doubt face from the other elites and aristocracy, but _that_ dishonor, too... Well. She may not be completely convinced by her husband's argument that what they are doing is mercy, in no small part because she's never known him to show any more mercy than any _other_ Saiyan king, but she can understand completely how he has convinced himself that it is true.

She reaches out to press her palm flat against the warm, humming glass of Kakarot's nursing pod. The child inside doesn't acknowledge her, but his tail twitches slightly, curling around his ankle as he drifts in a dreamless sleep. 

"You're lucky, my son," she murmurs, pulling her palm away from the glass. "You will never have to bow to anyone."

Gine doesn't leave his side for a long, long time.

—

Vegeta first finds himself starting to worry when the planet comes into view. The fact that there _is_ a planet — that it hasn't been wholly destroyed — isn't necessarily the issue; in fact, that could be considered a relief, if anything, because if the prince had managed to turn this little rock into space dust and, presumably, move on, Vegeta would be officially out of leads, and this whole ridiculous little quest would have been back to square one. And then he'd have had to explain that to Prince Raditz, and _that_ hardly even bears thinking about. However, as grateful as he is not to have been immediately returned to what was beginning to feel like a wild chase all over the cosmos, the sight of the planet still gives him pause.

The fact that it still exists: all right, that's fine. The fact that it looks remarkably _undamaged..._

Vegeta has seen the kind of damage the sons of King Bardock can do to a planet. Firsthand. Many times. This peaceful little blue marble clearly hasn't.

They haven't met yet, but Vegeta thinks he's already decided that Prince Kakarot is shaping up to be even more trouble than his brother.

There are, he thinks as his pod rockets down through the upper atmosphere, the porthole window bathed in flames, any number of possible explanations, all of them with varying levels of potential risk to whatever it is, exactly, that Prince Raditz is expecting to get out of this situation. He hadn't deigned to share a whole lot more than "If the predictions based on his early development were accurate, my brother may be even more powerful than I am. Find him, and bring him back here" — at least not with Vegeta, and if Nappa knows anything more, he hadn't been telling. But then, it isn't terribly hard to guess. A Saiyan warrior — no, a Saiyan _prince,_ no matter how untrained and feral, with even more power than Prince Raditz? Not only would he increase their total number by a pitifully remarkable margin, but he'd increase their total _power_ by at least double. 

And Frieza wouldn’t — won't — know he's with them until it's too late. 

So Vegeta hadn't questioned the prince's logic, no matter that it hadn't been explained to him, and he'd gotten in the pod and gone off to do as his ruler commanded. He is the one among them whose temporary absence can most easily be explained away, seeing as he's the lowest ranking and, therefore, the one Frieza and his goons give the least of a shit about, and so he had been the obvious choice for the dubious honor of this mission. 

He's not _regretting_ it now, not exactly; far be it from him to _regret_ following an order handed down to him by the last representative of the great ruling houses of Sadala, for one thing. But that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily thrilled to be on this backwater mudball, Vegeta thinks, nose wrinkling as the pod breaks through a cloudbank and a city comes into view: squat, round buildings, with a cluster of taller ones near the center. _This_ , certainly, is far too pristine to be his destination, far too… undestroyed, but his scouter doesn't lie, and it says the only power readings worth anything are down there, not far from him now. 

What in Yilos' name has Prince Kakarot been _doing_ all this time? Vegeta narrows his eyes and presses his face as close to the porthole as he can get it. His pod is approaching the ground with remarkable speed now, and he's not exactly bothering to guide it between and around the buildings with anything resembling grace. The only thing that's keeping him from already writing this mission off as a complete waste of time is that, well. Those power readings he's racing towards _are_ certainly something. He's just going to hope that they're the particular something he's come looking for, or else the last hope of his people truly may be lost.

—

In his life, there have been plenty of moments where Goku felt perfectly happy and content, but none of them have ever been quite like this.

There's a particular sense of vicious euphoria that comes from defeating a powerful enemy, and there's a certain bubbly joy from being surrounded by his friends, and there's a bright, brassy triumph that comes from being recognized as the strongest, and right now, all of those things and more are blending in his chest. He's already almost forgotten about Piccolo, who's long gone with only the promise of someday returning to fight again, in favor of smiling and laughing and cheering with Krillin, and Bulma, and Yamcha, and all the others. It's silly, but somehow, the fact that he won the tournament is almost the best part. He is, finally, the victor of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai — the fact that he saved the world a few times to get here almost feels like a bonus. 

Tien and Chiaotzu are having a reunion somewhere just behind him, and Chi-Chi still has her hands fisted in the front of his gi after coming over to hug him, and Kami is coming over, too, looking like he's got something on his mind. But Goku doesn't even really notice any of those things; he's too busy soaking in this golden moment of contentment, giving himself a little time to truly appreciate how this feels. He only wishes his grandpa were here to see it.

He's so busy being happy, actually, that he doesn't notice when Master Roshi suddenly frowns and turns toward the horizon, or the way the old geezer's hands clench into fists, white-knuckled. He doesn't notice that Kami stops his approach, too, and also turns back, looking shocked, distracted from whatever it was that he was going to talk to Goku about.

"Master Roshi?" Tien asks after a moment, pulling away from his reunion with Chiaotzu. He's the first one of them to realize something is wrong, but then in the next second, before Goku can even really realize what Tien's asking about, he feels it, too. It's a really weird feeling — not quite anything like what his friends' energy feels like, or Master Roshi's, or Piccolo's, either. Or King Piccolo before him, for that matter. It's hard to explain, but it feels almost like... lightning in a bottle? That reminds him of something his grandpa would say. He's not really sure what it means, but it feels right, somehow. Regardless, whatever it is that feels like that is coming this way, and fast.

"We can't even catch a break for five minutes?" Krillin mutters; he's frowning now, too. They all are, even Goku, everyone tensing up and shifting subtly into fighting stances. Even Bulma and Launch and the others, the ones who _can't_ feel that something's wrong, have at least picked up on the fact that everyone else is on edge; they're tense now, too. Launch's face has gone slightly pale, and Bulma has her fists clenched at her sides as she stands just behind Yamcha. 

"What's going on?" she mutters, and when Yamcha just shrugs at her, she frowns, eyes narrowing. "Is something coming? Would one of you _say something useful?_ Being vague and mysterious literally never helps!" 

"Something's coming, all right," Goku says, not looking back at her. He's squinting in the direction of whatever it is; in the distance, there's a faint plume of smoke. 

"Great," Bulma says. "Wonderful. Amazing! Based on the way you're all acting, you'd think we were facing another Piccolo."

"Might be," Goku replies. The smoke, and the burning core of energy that's attached to it, is getting closer. "Might be worse."

" _Worse?"_

Bulma's voice has risen to a shriek, but there's no time to think about that, or even think about the fact that maybe she and the rest of the civilians should clear out. There's a distant crash, and then a flare of especially dark, acrid smoke not too far off, and then everyone gets even tenser, because the flare of energy is coming closer and closer with every second.

There's a moment where Goku almost relaxes when their mysterious visitor finally comes into view, because a part of him was quite literally expecting _another Piccolo_ — as in, another clone of the big green guy. What comes flying out of the smoke is pretty weird, but it — he — isn't green at all, and he isn't particularly big, either. He's dressed pretty weird — he's got this armor on with big, wide shoulder plates, and he's wearing some funny little eyepiece made out of green glass — but honestly, most of Goku's friends look pretty weird, so that doesn't really register. He looks kinda pissed, but that's not all that out of the ordinary either; people look at Goku that way pretty often.

And then, in almost the same exact instant, he realizes two things: first, that the immense, roiling energy that he's feeling is coming from the strange guy who's speeding toward them. And, second, that he has a tail just like Goku's. 

Behind him, Yamcha mutters, "Oh, I have got a _really_ bad feeling about this."

That sums it up pretty well, in Goku's opinion, and he shifts slightly in his fighting stance, forcing himself to keep loose. He was right, before, with what he said to Bulma — this guy's not another Piccolo. Something tells him he's _definitely_ worse. But he doesn't really get a chance to say so, because the guy is flying toward them _fast_ , and before Goku really even has a chance to think, he's landing not ten feet away, coming smoothly to a stop straight in front of where the whole group of them is arrayed outside the destroyed tournament grounds. After all the smoke and the crunching sounds of destruction — and despite the absolutely violent feel of his energy — he lands almost delicately, without dislodging even a pebble. 

The contrast would be kind of funny if Goku actually had time to stop and think about it, which he doesn't, because:

"My Prince," the stranger says. He has kind of a growly voice, and he sounds incredibly tense, but that's honestly not half as interesting as the fact that he's sinking to one knee, bowing his head and sort of baring his throat a little — or the fact that as he does all of that, he's looking straight as Goku.

There's a beat of silence, and then somewhere in the back of the group, Bulma says, "His _what?"_ If the stranger hears her, he doesn't acknowledge her at all.

"Your brother sent me, sire," he says, continuing as though there'd been no interruption at all. Goku doesn't know what _sire_ means, but that's just about the least confusing thing about this situation, so he lets it slide. 

"Are... you talking to me?" he asks, because it's pretty much all he can think to say. 

The stranger's eyes narrow. "Of course I am," he says. "Who else would I be talking to, Prince Kakarot?"

"Okay, well, then I think you've got the wrong guy," Goku says slowly. He doesn't move at all, doesn't relax his stance even a little, because this guy may be talking pretty calmly, but his energy is telling a very, very different story. And he knows he's not imagining it, either, because none of the others have let up any more than he has. "I'm no prince, and my name isn't Kakarot."

"You are Prince Kakarot," the stranger insists. Goku doesn't miss the way his fists clench, or the way the muscles in his jaw jump. "Secondborn son of King Bardock of Sadala. You were sent here, to this planet, as a cub. And I've been sent here to bring you back."

— 

All things considered, Vegeta believes this could be going better.

He doesn't know what's been done to his prince, why he's surrounded himself with Earthlings, what these weak, snivelling little creatures have _done_ to him, but he's ready to rip them apart until they tell him. He only hopes the damage can be undone. There's no doubting, after all, that he has the right person: the prince may not look all that much like his brother, but he is the absolute mirror image of his father. It's been well over a decade since the last time Vegeta saw King Bardock, of course, but he remembers what the man looked like well enough, and if he didn't know better, he'd think it were Bardock himself standing in front of him, frowning at him. All Kakarot is missing is the scar on his father's cheek — or any scars at all, really. He doesn't exactly look like he's lived the life of a warrior.

No doubt that's because of whatever the Earthlings have done to him, but even though he's clearly not been raised the way a Saiyan warrior — let alone a prince — should, his power is still unmistakable and undeniable. Vegeta doesn't even need his scouter to tell him the extent of it: he can feel it easily enough, a pressure on the edge of his senses that makes his skin prickle with reciprocal battle-fever. 

One of the Earthlings — a female with dark hair — shifts suddenly, making her way closer to the front of the group. She comes to a stop, in fact, just at Prince Kakarot's shoulder. She's close enough to him to indicate clear familiarity, and even goes so far as to lay one hand on his arm. 

"Goku?" the female says. "Do you know him?" 

She's glaring at Vegeta, and from the way she carries herself, it's clear that she has at least some training, though her power level is laughably low. The implied threat isn't what enrages him, however — for one thing, because she's far from intimidating, and for another, because he's far too busy focusing instead on the way she's draping herself over the prince's arm. 

Without thinking about it at all, he growls at her, feeling his face split into a snarl. How _dare_ she touch the prince so familiarly? As though he needs more reason to hate the people of this worthless planet; as though he needs more evidence that they've poisoned Prince Kakarot's mind, twisted him somehow, turned him into something _tame_ —

But before he has time to even fully process his own instinctual reaction, he's ducking back under the force of the prince's returning growl. He's shoved the Earthling woman behind himself, and lowered himself down a little, out of whatever fighting stance he'd been using before and into something that looks far more familiar to Vegeta — untrained, unrefined, yes, but all the more recognizable for it, almost. Distinctly Saiyan. Even so, it's wrong somehow: the lines of the Prince's body are hidden, marred by the loose garment he wears, with his tail, presumably, entirely tucked inside it, and the instant of pure ferocity on his face is wiped away almost immediately by a look of softness and concern.

"Are you okay?" Kakarot asks the female, shifting his attention away from Vegeta entirely, if only for a moment, and that is when Vegeta truly begins to realize the depth of all that is wrong here.

"My prince," he tries, his eyes narrowing. "You need to come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Kakarot counters immediately. He's distracted from the female again, at least, pushing her back behind him and taking a shifting half-step forward. "You're crazy if you think I am."

"I'm here on behalf of your brother," Vegeta tells him, baring his teeth at the end of the sentence without meaning to. He watches with mounting irritation as the Earthlings all start to sink into more aggressive stances, all of them seeming increasingly more and more sure that this is going to come to blows. None of them will pose any real threat, but there are enough of them that he has to grudgingly admit they'll be able to serve as a collective annoyance, if nothing else.

Damn it all. His options, he realizes, are growing increasingly limited, if simply convincing the prince to leave with him isn't going to work. Does he really have no concept of who he is — of _what_ he is? Does he really know nothing?

“You are a Saiyan,” he grits out. “You are Kakarot, son of Bardock. You are my _prince_. You are our people’s final hope.”

Prince Kakarot frowns, and looks at him in a way that, more so than any part of this whole fiasco thus far, truly makes Vegeta feel a shameful shiver of fear — not because of how fierce his expression is, or how dangerous, but because of how _empty_ it is, completely devoid of recognition. Vegeta had come here expecting to find a leader, expecting to find a fellow Saiyan warrior, and it’s clearer now than ever that, instead, he’s found a stranger.

_“_ My name is Son Goku _,”_ the man who should be his prince says. “I've always lived on Earth. I was raised here. And if you're going to cause trouble — I've taken out worse than you before.”

Well. The last part sounds Saiyan, at least — more Saiyan than anything else the prince has said to him so far. Vegeta considers that for a long, heavy moment, the air between them frozen and thick with tension. He takes a long, deep, slow breath in.

He finds himself presented with, essentially, two options. One: he can accept that this mission is a lost cause, turn and walk away like a _coward,_ and return empty-handed. This, of course, isn't actually an option at all, and he feels a vein jump in his forehead at the very idea. Or, two: he can take a path that seems equally likely to result in his success or his death, and which, technically, may or may not brand him a traitor to what little remains of the ruling house of Sadala.

Vegeta sighs. He's going to have to fight the prince.

This is, in every conceivable way, not how he thought this trip was going to turn out, but there's no use dancing around the issue now. There's no other way he's going to get Prince Kakarot to come with him — Vegeta has never been the diplomat amongst his squad, even given that Saiyans aren't known for their diplomacy in general — and it's not as though he can just _leave him here_. He has no other option, really.

With his mind made up, he realizes that there's no point in wasting any more time. He casts an assessing glance around at the others who are assembled around his prince. Humans, all of them, and none with power levels that make them look anything close to threatening. There is the one Namekian, which is a bit confusing, but he looks old, and he's not holding himself like a threat; his energy level is notable among the humans, but still quite a bit lower than Vegeta might consider a serious contender.

_How_ any of these useless, soft-bellied creatures have managed to do — _whatever_ the hell it is they've managed to do to Prince Kakarot is beyond him, but he's not going to just sit around and gnash his teeth about it. This may not have been the situation he was expecting to find when he set out on this ridiculous quest, but damn it, he's going to make the most of it regardless.

"I'm going to get rid of this stupid rock," he growls, his eyes narrowing as he falls into a fighting stance. "And then I'm going to remind you of your place, my prince."

He leaps forward without another word, springing into motion with a grim set to his mouth and a ravenous glint in his eyes. This is how it's going to be, apparently, so he sees no sense in bandying about the point. He goes straight for Prince Kakarot, striking out at him with a short, sharp _"Ha!"_

The prince blocks him easily, of course — he expected no different — but it's from there that the real fun begins. Seeing as his literal job description is to go to various unknown worlds, fight and destroy their warriors, and bring them to heel for Frieza, Vegeta is more than used to having to adapt on the fly to fighting styles that he may not have actually experienced before. And, given that the prince was sent off when he was far to young to have begun training and has, therefore, presumably developed an entirely Earthling fighting style, Vegeta is expecting this situation to be no different than any of those. What's surprising, then, is exactly how familiar it feels to fall into a rapid exchange of blows with him, both of them kicking and jabbing so quickly that the individual motions begin to blur together as they move as one across the ground. Kakarot is untrained in the Saiyan fighting schools, obviously, so in a strange way it almost feels like fighting a cub — albeit a preternaturally strong cub — but there's something very familiar there, too. On some instinctive level, Kakarot seems to understand how Saiyans move, how he should position himself. He's got his tail very well-hidden, too, which is another strong Saiyan instinct, and he... well, in a way Vegeta can't even fully describe, he moves like his brother does.

Vegeta smiles viciously, flashing his canines. That, more than anything, gives him hope that this might just turn out all right after all.

Of course, it doesn't take long for one of the humans to try and interfere. Vegeta sees him coming approximately an _aram_ away, and dodges neatly around his strikes, but he does add an irritating complication to the situation, forcing Vegeta to pay attention to something other than the prince. It's the big three-eyed one; when Vegeta shoots a quick burst of energy at him, he dives out of the way, but stays at just close enough range to be irritating. 

"You don't have to do this, you know," Vegeta snaps at him, taking his attention off of Kakarot for just a moment to pin the human interloper with a glare. "Not that I'll mind killing you, but you're barely worth the effort, and I'm on a bit of a tight schedule. That goes for all the rest of you as well," he adds, raising his voice to call out toward the rest of the gathered crowd.

"Master Roshi, get Bulma and the others out of the way!" one of the other humans yells, and then something Vegeta can't quite make out, about getting someone to sneeze. There's a commotion behind him, where the Earthlings had all been standing, which Vegeta assumes is the sound of useless noncombatants beating a hasty retreat. 

Then, suddenly, there's a sharp yell, and a new, female voice screams, "I'll show you, you alien bastard!" 

There's the unmistakable, concussive sound of a weapon firing, and Vegeta tenses and turns to look out of concern that the Earthlings might actually have some sort of weapon that might actually pose a threat — but, of course, he quickly realizes he was worried for no reason. The projectiles hit him and bounce harmlessly from his skin, while the three-eyed Earthling dives out of the way, cursing, so that he doesn't get caught in the crossfire.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. How Prince Kakarot didn't wipe these moon-shy little whelps from existence by _accident_ is beyond him. 

"No way," one of the humans says quietly, and then the same loud, brash female who had just shot at Vegeta growls and says, "What the fuck is up with him?"

"Oh my God," says one of the other females. "Maybe he's telling the truth about Goku after all. I've never seen anyone else shrug off bullets like that."

Vegeta takes advantage of all of them being apparently flabbergasted by the fact that he didn't fall to some pathetic projectile weapon to dive for Kakarot again. Behind him, the Earthlings, apparently too stupid to do as the small bald one had suggested and run for their lives, are now arguing amongst themselves.

"But he doesn't have a tail!" one of them says, voice high-pitched and tense.

"Yes he does," argues one of the females, pointing at Vegeta's waist. "He's just not waving it around in our faces."

"You'd think they'd be more concerned about their continued existence and less concerned about whether or not I'm lying," Vegeta sneers at the three-eyed one, who's come back to try and intercede between Vegeta and Prince Kakarot once again. He narrows his eyes, furious, so Vegeta bares his teeth in a bloodthirsty grin, trying his best to unnerve him.

Apparently it works, because with one final, frustrated growl, the Earthling backs away, leaving to rejoin the rest of the group, presumably. Vegeta doesn't pay him much attention as soon as he's gone; if the coward wants to turn tail and run after all, well, at least he's recognizing his place relative to the strength of a Saiyan warrior who was hand-picked by the crown prince himself. Two of the others come forward in his place, though — the little bald one and another male, relatively nondescript, with dark hair — and while neither of them is particularly threatening, they're doing an unfortunately good job of keeping Vegeta from being able to focus on Prince Kakarot directly. Between the two of them and the prince himself, he finds himself forced to focus on defense, and grits his teeth against the pressure of attacks coming in from all sides, refusing to give ground.

A well-timed kick sends the bald one sprawling, though, and Vegeta ducks under a blow from the other Earthling and then manages to knock him aside, too, which leaves only Prince Kakarot again, his face marred by a determined scowl. Before Vegeta has a chance to press his offensive, however, he hears a shout from behind him, and glances briefly over his shoulder just in time for the bald one to come barreling towards him, fists already swinging.

Two of them is still better than three — the other fighter hasn't rejoined them — but it's also still enough to be frustrating, and Vegeta finds himself drawn back into more or less a stalemate. He feels his frustration mounting. The longer this takes, the more likely it becomes that one of the humans will think of _something_ , or the situation will change, or he'll otherwise lose control of things. It's in his best interest to get Prince Kakarot out of here as fast as possible, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't quite find an opening. 

His only solace is that the Earthlings apparently can't, either. That, and their general fighting style is far from vicious; there haven't been any true attempts at a killing blow, which is about as pathetic as expected. With him not quite able to overpower them by brute strength, and the Earthlings equally as unable to conquer him — and apparently lacking the stomachs to kill besides — the situation is drawing out far longer than he'd like, and he's about to become truly frustrated when his scouter catches a sudden flare of energy from above and, on instinct, he looks up.

It's the three-eyed one — apparently he hadn't run like a coward after all. He's risen into the air, and he's holding both hands out in front of him, his fingers locked in a triangular shape. It's fairly obvious that he's preparing for some sort of energy attack — from the way his energy is roiling, but also from the ridiculous pose.

"Get out of the way!" he yells, and Kakarot, to Vegeta's surprise, actually does, darting away without a second thought. That... potentially does not bode well. 

The bald one tenses, also ready to run, and in that moment, Vegeta sees the opportunity he's been waiting for: before the little man can flee, he grabs him, spinning him around to act as a shield. He sees fear in all three of those eyes for just a moment, but it seems to be too late: the energy building up is obvious, and it's already pouring out, a beam of harsh light from between his hands—

There's a flash of movement in Vegeta's peripheral vision, and if he had the time to waste in this moment on frivolous displays of emotion, he would smirk. Kakarot dives for him, shouting " _Krillin!"_ , and it's easy enough to allow the bald Earthling to be knocked from his grip, easy enough to grab Kakarot instead, easy enough to yank him around to take the full force of the blast that is now completely inescapable.

They're knocked back by the force of the blast, but Vegeta has calculated well: Kakarot takes the brunt of it, already gone slack in his grip by the time the burst of light fades away and his vision clears. There's a moment of echoing silence on the battlefield; when he opens his eyes, he sees the humans all frozen, staring at him with their expressions frozen in horror. They must, he realizes, think Kakarot is dead; it's easy enough for Vegeta to feel that he's not, to feel his shallow breathing and know that his gamble worked out all but perfectly, but Kakarot's out cold, and his energy has fallen away to almost nothing. If the humans have any way of sensing that, they probably don't like what they see.

He very much wants to stay and gloat, but he knows he hasn't got the time. They won't be frozen in shock forever, and he has to get off-planet as quickly as possible regardless. Without a word, he tightens his grip on the prince and shoots into the sky. 

—

Of course, getting the two of them into the pod was always going to be uncomfortable, but Vegeta hadn't anticipated that Kakarot would be a less than willing participant in doing so. If anything, he would have thought a more likely circumstance would be Kakarot just killing him and taking the pod for himself — and while he must admit he's grateful that _that_ didn't come to pass, it's nevertheless fucking annoying to have to try and stuff the prince's slack limbs into a ship which was certainly not designed to hold two adult Saiyans. 

Trying to force his unconscious form into the ship is like trying to push sand uphill, and Vegeta is well aware that he's working to a time limit. The Earthlings aren't going to just let him go on his merry way, after all. Given that they almost certainly think he's killed Kakarot, they're going to come after him seeking revenge — and even if, somehow, they _do_ know he's alive, they'll want him _back_. 

He gets Kakarot crammed into the pod just in time for him to groan thickly and start to stir. In a moment of acting on pure instinct, and while trying to worm his own way into the pod with him, Vegeta does the first thing that comes to mind: he scruffs the prince like a cub, gripping him firmly by the back of his neck and shaking him just a little. 

Instantly, Kakarot goes slack and quiets right back down again. Vegeta takes a moment to pause and marvel at that. That sort of maneuver... _really_ should not work that well on an adult Saiyan. Most have outgrown that instinct by the time they're a few cycles old, let alone nearly mature. Then again, in this moment, he certainly isn't going to complain.

In the distance, he hears shouting and sounds of pursuit, and a quick glance over his shoulder with his scouter confirms that there are several energy signatures coming toward him at a rapid pace. That's quite enough time spent pondering Prince Kakarot's odd behavior, then; no doubt there will be more than enough time for that later, when they're off this worthless rock and far away from its meddling people. Without another second of wasted time, Vegeta slams the door of his pod shut on himself and the prince and quickly begins to prepare a trajectory. 


	2. Parumir (Understanding)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...it's possible that I should know better than to promise specific update dates at this point in my writing life! I'm very sorry this took longer than I'd thought. I'm chugging away at the final chapter and it'll be up as soon as I'm happy with it!

When Goku wakes up, the first thing he thinks is, _Dang, Piccolo Junior really did a number on me, huh?_ Then he remembers that the reality is somehow even worse — or at least stranger — and sits bolt upright, his eyes snapping open.

The fact that he has no idea where he is is immediately obvious; as soon as he opens his eyes, he realizes that much. The landscape here, wherever "here" is, is very, very weird: the sky is _green_ , for one thing, and all around are these strange bulbous round things that almost look like mushrooms, except they're the size of boulders. This leads to the second, less-obvious, slower realization, one that takes a long time to slowly sink in through his confused, disorganized thoughts: _he's not on Earth anymore_.

Frantic, scrambling to sit up, he reaches out with all his senses, trying to find anything that's familiar. But he can't detect familiar ki signatures anywhere within range — and more than that, he can hardly detect any ki signatures at _all_. Wherever he is — and he's increasingly convinced that he's right, that he really isn't on Earth anymore — there's hardly anyone around, either humans or animals. In fact, there's really only one ki signature that's strong enough to be a person, but it's unfamiliar, and kind of harsh and angry-feeling, and also it's coming closer, and — 

"You're awake," the alien who attacked him at the Tenkaichi Budokai says, stepping out from between two of the mushroom thingies with some kind of dead animal slung over his shoulder. "Good. I was starting to think there was actually something wrong with you."

" _You!"_ Goku yells, vaulting to his feet a little too quickly and swaying for one embarrassing second before righting himself and taking a fighting stance. "What did you do to me? Where are we? What _happened?"_

"I don't think this planet even has a name," the alien responds flatly; though he can't quite hide the way he's watching Goku slightly warily, he seems to be trying to, acting like he's not bothered at all even though he clearly is. He reaches up with one hand to fiddle with the weird little glass thing he's still wearing over one eye, then makes a small affirmative noise. "Yes. No name. Though that's not a surprise, considering there are no sentient inhabitants. It's designated F-542-B, though I'm guessing that doesn't mean anything to you."

Goku shakes his head, more in an attempt to clear his head and get his thoughts running smoothly than as a negative gesture. _This planet_ is probably all the confirmation that he really needs, but he wants to be sure. "That doesn't really answer my question."

"We aren't on Earth anymore, if that's what you're asking, my prince," the alien responds. Apparently deciding it's safe to come closer — that Goku isn't going to make a break for it or try to fight him or whatever it is he'd been worrying about, though Goku hasn't really made up his mind not to do either of those things just yet — he comes a little closer, eventually dropping the animal he's clearly killed onto the ground between them and kneeling down next to it. 

The way he says _my prince_ makes it clear that the words aren't entirely a compliment, and it also helps jog Goku's memory a little more. He still feels a bit disoriented, but everything's getting clearer the longer he's awake. His head is spinning for a different reason now, though: if they're really not on Earth — and he has no reason to believe that it isn't true — then that means that everything else this alien has told him is a little more likely to be true, too. And if all of it is true, then...

"All that stuff you said was _real?"_ he says, a little faintly. It's almost too much to process: the alien part, the _prince_ part, all of it. He still doesn't even know this guy's name, and he's completely turned everything Goku's ever known upside-down — not to mention kidnapping him _to another planet._ Somehow, he doesn't think even Kami and Mr. Popo will be ale to help him here.

The stranger gathers ki in his hand a split second before he slices the animal he killed right up the belly. "Of course it's real," he says flatly, glancing up at Goku only briefly as he gets to work butchering, using his hands in place of a blade. "Believe me, I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of tracking you to the edges of civilized space if every word I've told you wasn't true."

"So I'm a... Saiyan?" Whatever that means.

"Yes," the stranger confirms.

"And so are you?"

"Yes."

"And... I'm some kind of...?"

"Prince," the stranger supplies. "Not the crown prince. You were the secondborn son of the last king and queen of Sadala."

Goku frowns. "So I had a brother?"

"Have," the stranger corrects. He looks up at Goku just long enough to frown. "I told you he sent me."

"Oh, right," Goku says slowly. In his defense, the talking part blurs together in his memory in favor of the battle which had followed. "So... then who are you? Are you some kind of..." He trails off when he realizes that he has no idea what kind of person works for a prince. His grandpa hadn't really raised him with those kinds of fairy tales; his only real experience with royalty is the Ox King. Well, and King Piccolo.

He doesn't like _that_ comparison much at all.

The stranger looks up at the question, though, and pauses in butchering the animal, meeting his eyes.

"I am a member of your brother's squad," he says, after a moment. "It was an honor to be selected to fight alongside the crown prince. It also saved my life, given that we were off-planet doing Frieza's dirty work when Sadala was destroyed."

Goku doesn't know what most of that means, but he knows to latch onto one thing. " _Destroyed!?"_

"Yes." The stranger pauses. "You really don't remember anything? Your parents? Our _planet?_ You were young when they sent you to Earth, yes, but your pod ought to have contained..."

"I don't know anything about any pod," Goku informs him. "Grandpa always said he just found me cryin' in the woods."

The stranger frowns again. "He may have, if you got out of the pod yourself somehow. Or he may simply not have told you the full truth. Regardless, it doesn't matter now."

Goku supposes he can't argue with that, really — though he, at least, would like to know, even if it doesn't make much difference now. _Had_ his grandpa hauled him out of some spaceship and just never told him about it? He's not sure how he feels about that. He's still not really sure yet how he feels about _any_ of this.

They lapse into silence again; the stranger goes back to his butchering, and Goku stares at the ground for a moment, his mind whirring. After a second, though, he looks up, realizing there's one key bit of information he still doesn't have.

"You didn't actually tell me your name," he points out, watching the way meat steams into the air as it falls away from the creature's bones. It's blueish, which strikes him as odd, but then again, meat is meat. "I can't keep just thinking of you as 'stranger.'"

"I apologize, Prince Kakarot," the stranger says stiffly, though this time he doesn't pause in what he's doing at all. "My name is Vegeta. Third class."

_Third class_ sounds like it probably should mean something to him, but, well. It doesn't. So mostly, Goku just rolls the name around in his head; it's nice to have an actual name to put to the face, after all. "You don't have to call me 'prince,' you know, Vegeta," he says after a moment. "Or 'Kakarot,' either. I mean, that's not my name."

"It is your name," Vegeta counters. With one last sweep of his hand, he finishes butchering the creature, and starts tossing the truly inedible bits — horns, teeth — to the side. "It is the name your parents gave you. A Saiyan name."

"Uh... right." Goku squints at him a little has he starts stomping around, gathering what Goku quickly realizes are the materials to start a fire, though they don't look entirely familiar, given... well, given how far from home they are. Apparently those mushroom things are flammable, though.

Vegeta's acting a lot more reserved than he was during the fight, he notices, but it doesn't take an expert — and Goku's well aware he's not exactly an expert on people — to tell he's still pretty upset. His shoulders are set really stiffly, and he moves like he's constantly expecting to be attacked, but at the same time, he doesn't move like he had when they'd actually been fighting. There aren't any kinetic, lightning-quick motions here; instead, he mostly just looks like someone rammed a pole up his spine.

Maybe it's just because he's treating Goku as a prince? Goku has a vague idea that you're probably supposed to treat royalty really politely, though he doesn't know for sure, because he's not exactly sure that the Ox King is the same as whatever idea of royalty Vegeta has. And, well, it hadn't exactly kept Vegeta from fighting him earlier, either, so maybe it's not what's making him act so weird now.

Goku squints at him a little, but it's not like he's expecting Vegeta to just suddenly start explaining whatever's got him twisted up. And while Goku normally wouldn't hesitate to just come right out and ask something like that, in this moment, he finds himself distracted, because Vegeta's succeeded in getting a fire going and starts roasting some of the blue meat he's just prepared, and Goku's never really been able to focus on anything else when there's food in the equation

Their meal is a mostly silent affair, which gives Goku a little more time to actually think about what's going on here. By the time they've made their way through the entirety of whatever animal it was Vegeta had killed, he's decided a couple of things.

One: It's definitely really weird to know that he's an alien, and he's going to have to probably figure out if that means there are any new techniques he can learn or ways to grow stronger that he's never even considered — like, things that are different than what humans can do — but, overall, it doesn't really change all that much. He's still the same person he was when he woke up this morning, after all.

Two: Vegeta seems really weird, and Goku's kind of curious about him, and definitely at least a little curious about this mysterious brother of his that Vegeta supposedly fights with, the crown prince. A rematch against Vegeta would be really great, and getting to meet and possibly fight his brother would probably be even cooler. But he doesn't really want to wait around in space forever; he'd really like to get back to Earth, actually, and let his friends know that he's okay.

Three: In order to get back, he's going to have to take Vegeta's spaceship, or whatever the heck it was he used to get them here.

Vegeta leaves again once they've eaten, not giving him any explanation about where he's going, but just flying off, and Goku figures there's probably no time like the present. He finds what has to be the ship not too far away, which is lucky, though he supposes it makes sense for Vegeta to have kept it nearby. No sense wandering away from it, probably.

He crouches down next to it and tries to figure it out, scratching his head a little and frowning dubiously. It's pretty small, actually; he's kind of shocked that he and Vegeta both got all the way here in such a little thing. How did they even _fit?_ It's round, too — as in, perfectly spherical, which... somehow doesn't fit the kind of thing he would have come up with if he'd tried to picture a spaceship. It seems to be sealed up tight, and he doesn't have any idea how to get it open, but he figures staring at it won't do much, so he leans over and starts grabbing at it randomly, hoping he'll find some kind of... lever, or... something.

Vegeta finds him that way maybe half an hour later, mumbling under his breath in frustration and seconds away from just hitting the stupid thing with a kamehameha and hoping that that gets it open, somehow. Goku doesn't quite notice him approach, too distracted by the puzzle of trying to get the stupid spaceship to let him inside, but he at least manages not to jump when Vegeta makes a short, sharp " _Tch"_ sound behind him.

Goku freezes, not exactly sure why he feels like he's been caught doing something wrong, other than that it's probably kind of obvious what he was trying to get into the spaceship for. He kneels on the ground, frozen, not sure if he should say something — make some excuse, maybe? He's not sure he likes that idea; what does he even have to apologize for? He's not the one who kidnapped someone.

At any rate, it doesn't end up mattering, because Vegeta speaks first anyway. 

"I'm not sure what good that would do you," he says, taking a few steps closer to Goku and kneeling on the other side of the spaceship. He reaches out and pushes a panel that Goku couldn't even see with perfect precision, and the ship's hatch — the red part on the front — opens with a little hissing sound. "More than likely you'd just die in space."

Goku bristles. "I could figure it out! I'm not an idiot."

"I'm sure you're not," Vegeta says, in a tone that makes it sound suspiciously like he isn't actually all that sure. "But that doesn't mean you'd be able to easily figure out where to go. Or how to land. And given that I'm assuming you don't know how to read Galactic Standard, you'd have trouble getting the computer to do either of those things for you, either."

Okay, well, sure, Goku _doesn't_ know how to read Galactic Standard — whatever that even is — but that doesn't mean he's a lost cause. _No one_ on Earth knows how to read Galactic Standard, probably. He'd bet even Bulma doesn't, and if Bulma doesn't know something, he's sort of always figured it probably isn't really worth knowing.

"Why are you bein' such a jerk about it?" he grits out. If this were Krillin, he'd say, _Who shit in your cornflakes?,_ but, well. He can't even count all the ways Vegeta isn't Krillin, and he's only known the guy for like an hour. "I thought I was your _prince,_ or whatever. Shouldn't you be a little nicer? Like not kidnapping me in the first place, and not being such a jerk now?"

Something in what Goku's said makes Vegeta stiffen and growl a little, and before Goku can even blink, he's straightened up and stalked away. His tail — and Goku realizes this is the first time he's even really noticed Vegeta's tail, because he doesn't hold it out behind him the way Goku'd always held his; it's wrapped tightly around his waist instead, and honestly, he'd kind of thought it was just a part of the armor — is puffing out like he's really pissed, even though it's still clenched around his middle. It looks kind of funny like that, actually, though given the situation, even Goku's not laughing.

After a long, tense moment, which mostly involves Vegeta with his back to Goku, presumably glaring off into the distance, he finally says, "You are not the prince I thought I was coming to find."

Goku throws up his hands at that, more than a little irritated himself. "That's what I've been trying to _tell you!_ I'm not — whoever you think I am. I can't be. So you kidnapped me for _nothing_. Will you take me back now?"

"That's not what I mean," Vegeta snaps. When he turns around, his face is set in one of the scariest-looking scowls Goku's ever seen, which is kind of saying something. "I'm quite certain you are Prince Kakarot. You couldn't look more like your father if you tried. But those — those weaklings made you _soft_ ," he spits, his tone bitter.

" _Soft?"_ Goku splutters, without really thinking about it. That... admittedly, that pisses him off, but it's also just plain confusing. He'd been beating Vegeta, hadn't he, before he decided to fight dirty? Where did this guy get off calling him soft after their fight?

"Your brother sent me to find you on the hopes that you could help us defeat Frieza," Vegeta growls. "From what I know of your recorded power level as a child — before you were sent to Earth — it should have been possible. But you're hardly stronger than I am."

"I don't know about that," Goku says, frowning at him and standing. He crosses his arms, feeling his ki start to rise without really meaning to. He just can't help it — he's never been good at controlling it when he's angry. "I would have beaten the _snot_ out of you if you hadn't tried to get Krillin killed."

Vegeta snorts derisively. "Oh, yes, I'm sure you would. For what little good that would have done us."

It's hard to say for sure if Vegeta's baiting him on purpose, or if he's just angry — Goku's never really been that great at reading people, so he honestly doesn't know. But it doesn't really matter all that much, either. Regardless, the end result is the same. He feels ki start to whip around him, his muscles tensing as he clenches his fists, slipping into a fighting stance without even thinking about it, the movement as automatic and natural as breathing.

"You tryin' for a rematch?" he snarls, and his anger only spikes higher when Vegeta _sneers_ at him.

"Oh, any time you'd like, _my prince,"_ he says, and that — that is _it._

Goku's on him almost before he's even finished talking. The first, beautiful connection of his fist meeting Vegeta's cheek is almost heavenly, a release of pressure that somehow only serves to further fire him up. His next blow doesn't land so easily, though, and just like that, they're on each other, tumbling into the giant mushroom things in a shrieking ball of limbs.

This isn't nearly so dignified as the way they'd fought back on Earth. There's no squaring up and taking battle stances, no taking time to charge one's ki and plan an attack. There's no backup, either, no Krillin and Tien and Yamcha and Launch to bail him out if things get hairy. In a weird way, Goku thinks that might actually be the best part.

He slams Vegeta into a mushroom hard enough to hear his teeth clack together and finds himself _smiling_ , grinning almost viciously. "Not talkin' so tough now, are you?" he says, just in time for Vegeta to retort by bashing their foreheads together with a wordless scream.

"You —" Vegeta says, and then a word that's completely unrecognizable; Goku doesn't have much time to stop and wonder about it, though, because Vegeta's pushing his momentary advantage, bowling him over backwards, pinning him down, and cocking back his arm to take a swing directly at his face.

Goku dodges that punch easily — Vegeta had practically telegraphed where he was going to hit — but doesn't quite manage to avoid the follow-up, and it's only by rolling with the momentum of that hit that he manages to flip them, grabbing one of Vegeta's wrists when he tries to prevent the roll. 

Vegeta still has his legs free, though, and he jabs up with one knee. His aim is remarkable, given his lack of leverage, and Goku's left snarling and rolling away in pain. He scrambles to his feet just in time to fend off another barrage of blows, and then they're grappling again, both of them working to bring the other to the ground and neither one quite managing it.

Multiple mushrooms end up with massive holes in their trunks, or knocked over, or else destroyed entirely, but no matter what he does, Goku can't quite manage to actually get the upper hand on Vegeta for long enough to take him down for good. It's starting to really piss him off, because, well... he _had_ had the upper hand when they fought before, hadn't he? Why is this any different? Why isn't he able to kick Vegeta's ass _now?_

The longer the fight goes on, the more that thought festers in his mind, and the more it festers, the angrier he gets. And the angrier he gets, the less focus he has, the less precision. This isn't the kind of anger that focuses his mind and makes him powerful; this is the kind that just sort of makes everything blurry, and harsh, and _red._ Probably his only saving grace is that Vegeta seems to just be getting madder and madder, too.

They haven't spoken all that much, reduced mostly to grunting and snarling and guttural yells, but with one last, momentous push forward, Vegeta swings out and yells, _"What happened to you?"_

The shock of the question almost catches Goku off guard enough that the blow connects. Almost. He manages to block it instead, catching Vegeta's fist in his own hand. They skid backwards several feet with the force of the blow; Goku's heels skid through the dirt, but his arms stay strong, his grip secure.

They stand there, panting, both of them glaring. Goku can already feel a bruise swelling under his eye, and Vegeta has a cut bleeding sluggishly on one cheek.

"I don't know what you want me to be," Goku finally grits out, "but this is who I am."

An expression he can't read or define passes over Vegeta's face. For a moment, it almost looks like he's going to respond, but then he shuts his eyes, for just a second, and it passes. His muscles tense, then release; he steps back, pulling his fist from Goku's grip, his hands dropping to his sides. He doesn't stop looking at Goku, though; his glare never wavers. 

They stand there like that, in complete silence, for what feels like hours. Goku is _not_ willing to be the one who backs down, but if they're not going to keep fighting right now, he honestly just wants to find a place to sit down for a while. It feels a bit like the events of the past... however long are finally catching up to him. 

Finally, Vegeta looks away; the intensity of his glare doesn't actually lessen, but he directs it at the ground instead of at Goku, at least.

"This is ridiculous," he mutters. Whether he's talking to himself or not isn't entirely clear. Regardless, he takes one step back, then another, still not looking at Goku, and then he turns fluidly and kicks off the ground, soaring off above the mushrooms and quickly disappearing among their rounded tops. He's gone in almost an instant, leaving only the mushrooms they'd managed to destroy in their fight, and, in the distance, the spaceship with its hatch standing open as reminders that Goku isn't completely alone on this stupid planet.

Goku doesn't see him for three days.

—

Three days, it turns out, is enough time to get a pretty decent sense of the layout of this little planet. And it _is_ little — definitely smaller than Earth, which Goku realizes the first time he makes a complete loop around the whole thing within a few hours. That small size seems like it should make it harder for Vegeta to avoid him, but even a small planet is still a planet, and Goku can't ever manage to catch more than a flicker of Vegeta's ki, which makes it feel very much like he's being actively avoided. Then again, he's not exactly actively seeking Vegeta out, either; there's still that anger boiling under his skin, especially for the first day or so. It's almost unlike any way he's felt ever before, actually. There's something about it that just makes his hair stand on end, this electric feeling that's completely different from squabbling with his friends or even fighting someone like the Red Ribbon Army or Piccolo — either Piccolo.

Those guys made him angry; Bulma and Krillin and Yamcha and the others make him annoyed, sometimes. Vegeta makes his skin buzz.

There's something about it that he can't name, something instinctive. Whatever it is, it takes him a while to shake it, and in the meantime, if he doesn't see Vegeta, well. That's more than fine by him.

The first day he passes with his circuit of the planet, and then punching through a few more of the mushroom things, and then hunting for his dinner; he finds several of the same kind of creatures Vegeta had killed before, and, out of curiosity, tracks them for a while before eventually taking one down. It doesn't taste as good raw as it had roasted over the fire, honestly, but Goku can't really be bothered to gather materials to start a fire at that moment, and it's fine enough, anyway.

The second day is another lap of the planet — heading towards the poles this time, instead of around one latitude — and then more hunting, and then a little bit of sitting quietly under a mushroom instead of punching through it, because he's starting to feel himself settle down. He still definitely thinks Vegeta's a jerk, and he's still definitely mad about being kidnapped, but... the longer he thinks about it, the more he wonders about. What _exactly_ had Vegeta meant about their planet being destroyed? How did you even destroy an entire planet? Had someone like Piccolo done it, or were there other planets out there with dragon balls, and maybe someone had made a terrible wish? And did that mean everyone was... dead? How many other Saiyans _are_ there these days, if their planet was destroyed? 

He doesn't want to admit it, but as he thinks about it more and more, he starts to understand where Vegeta's coming from, even. Just a little bit, but... It would be hard not to wind up being a little bit of a jerk if some bad guy killed everyone you loved, wouldn't it?

"He still didn't have to kidnap me, though," he mutters to himself, staring up at the oddly-colored sky from beneath his giant mushroom, and refuses to think about it anymore.

The third day dawns quietly. There's a slight wind whistling through the mushrooms, and if he really stretches out with his senses, Goku can almost feel some more of those creatures he's been eating, but by and large, it's pretty peaceful. He opens his eyes after having slept curled up at the base of a mushroom and realizes that this is the first time he's really felt at ease since he left Earth. He's not sure what to think about that. It seems crazy to him that he'd feel even a little bit relaxed here, rather than just constantly wanting to get home, but... well, when he stops thinking about how far away he is and how much of a jerk Vegeta is and how much he wants to go home, he can instead spend his time thinking about how oddly pretty the giant mushrooms are, and how the landscape, while completely different from what he's used to, is really kind of nice.

He doesn't set out that morning with the intent to find Vegeta, exactly, but he also finds himself much more open to the idea than he has been thus far. What he _does_ go actively seeking is water; he's been getting some moisture just from eating, but he's really starting to want an actual water source. For one thing, he _definitely_ needs to bathe. So he heads off in the general direction of a river he remembers passing over yesterday and the day before in his circuits of the planet, and when there's a ki signature in that direction that's quickly growing familiar, and it doesn't disappear as he approaches, he decides that enough probably is enough, and they can probably manage to have a conversation without fighting, this time.

—

Vegeta's scouter picks up Kakarot approaching when he's still several _vusaram_ away, and though he tenses, he decides in a moment of what might be either weakness or insanity not to leave. It's been a shockingly long three days without the prince's infuriating attitude and lack of understanding, and in that time, Vegeta has had a lot of time to consider what exactly his next action should be, and he's come up entirely blank. Now more than ever, he can't just leave empty-handed, but he certainly can't take Kakarot back to the PTO, either, not when he's... like he is. Naive. Soft. Uninformed. 

In this particular circumstance, at least, his options are a little more clear: he takes the path of least resistance and doesn't immediately take to the skies when his scouter picks up an energy signature than can only be one person coming his way.

He's had three days now to ruminate, and he hasn't gotten much farther in making up his mind, but he has gotten just a little less angry. He'd like to think that he's at a point now where he can at least look at Kakarot without experiencing the urge to swing at him again; he supposes he's about to find out.

Kakarot approaches quietly, and, Vegeta thinks, remarkably cautiously. He stubbornly refuses to do more than look out of the corner of his eye, turning his back on the river and keeping it that way, but it's impossible to miss the way Kakarot slowly makes his way closer, telegraphing his movements and keeping his hands visible at all times. It's a little ridiculous, honestly, but Vegeta's not really in the mood to remark on it out loud; he watches, but that's all he does. And Kakarot doesn't seem inclined to speak either, which leaves just the two of them and the quiet and the river in between.

Eventually, there's a soft rustling noise and a flash of movement, and then Kakarot steps into the river. He's downstream, so there's no risk of grime rinsing off of him to the place where Vegeta had been drinking, not that he's drinking anymore, anyway. Against his will, almost, he finds himself turning to look a little more fully, the sounds of gentle splashing drawing his attention. Kakarot is completely unashamed in his nakedness, with his clothing left piled up on the riverbank, and as Vegeta watches, he turns around, and—

"Your _tail,_ " Vegeta blurts, in complete horror, without stopping to think about it.

Kakarot jumps a little, then straightens, turning back to face him again. "Huh?"

"You—" Vegeta almost wants to run over and physically turn him around again, just to confirm what he's seen. There's no need, though; Kakarot twists around a little, looking down at his own body, and sure enough, thanks to the curve of his spine Vegeta can once again see the scar where his tail should be.

The scar is remarkably clean; whoever had removed Kakarot's tail had done a very neat job. It doesn't look like a battle wound at all, actually — more like a surgical scar, which is, Vegeta reflects, entirely worse.

"What _happened?_ " he says, feeling his entire body tense with sympathetic horror. "Who did that to you?"

"Oh," Kakarot replies, sounding a little baffled. "Well, Yamcha, and then Grandpa, and then Kami, I guess."

There's nothing Vegeta can do in response to that statement but stare blankly. _Three_ times? Kakarot's tail has been removed by the Earthlings _three times?_ Once would have been bad enough, and twice nearly unthinkable, but _three times..._

"And you just — you let them do that to you?" he says eventually, his voice rougher than he'd like. He can't even imagine. The thought of someone removing his tail... he'd kill them. Especially now, when there would be little to no chance of growing to back, even with the aid of a healing pod.

"I'm just surprised you didn't notice before," Kakarot says, with an uncomfortable little shrug. He finally starts moving back toward the riverbank, heading for his discarded clothing. "What did you _think_ had happened to it?"

"I assumed you were keeping it inside your clothing," Vegeta replies, his voice distant to his own ears, still a little bit in shock. He shakes himself slightly, watching as Kakarot starts to dress. 

Kakarot wrinkles his nose as he shrugs back into his loose orange garment. "That sounds _super_ uncomfortable."

"Well, yes," Vegeta acknowledges a bit impatiently, because that kind of thing _would_ get irritating very quickly, "but not an entirely illogical way to protect it from being used against you in battle." 

"I guess," Kakarot says, shrugging. Having bathed and gotten back into his clothing, he's left just sort of standing awkwardly by the river, his arms crossed over his chest. He seems... well, for one thing, he seems a little confused by how vehemently Vegeta had reacted to seeing his tail, or lack thereof. He doesn't seem concerned by it at all. "Well, I mean, now you know. What's the big deal, anyway? You're acting like I told you someone _killed_ me."

"They might as well have," Vegeta mutters, then sighs through his nose. That's not _precisely_ true, but it's not particularly far off, either. It's hard to expect the prince to understand that, though; as far as cultural matters are concerned, Kakarot might as well not even be a Saiyan.

There's a slightly awkward moment of pause, were they both just stand there, making steady eye contact and not speaking. Vegeta has to admit, albeit grudgingly, that he's impressed — or at least relieved — by the fact that Kakarot doesn't appear all that negatively affected by his three-rotation stint in isolation in the wilderness. That he can handle himself in the wild, at least, is a good sign, though it will certainly take more to defeat Frieza than some basic hunting and tracking ability and the good sense not to eat random plants on alien worlds unless you know how they'll affect you.

It's only after arriving at this reluctant positive conclusion that Vegeta realizes he's being assessed, too, just as surely as he's been assessing Kakarot. There's definitely something behind that wide-eyed stare; it's not quite as empty as he might have thought.

After a long moment of watching him evenly, head tilted slightly to one side, Kakarot quietly speaks. "You admit I'm strong now?"

Vegeta takes a long, slow breath in through his nose. He feels a vein twitch slightly in his jaw, but he doesn't give in to his immediate urge to snap back, though he does grit his teeth.

"I never actually thought you weren't _strong,"_ he eventually admits, eyes narrowed. "That isn't my concern."

Kakarot frowns at that. "What do you mean?"

"Defeating Frieza is going to take more than just _strength_ ," Vegeta snaps back immediately. Then he pauses, taking another deep breath — though harsher, this time — before he continues. "It will take something I'm not truly sure anyone has, anywhere in the galaxy."

He certainly doesn't enjoy admitting that, but they're well past the point of being able to ignore inconvenient, sour-tasting truths. If Frieza were just the normal kind of power-hunger megalomaniac, they'd have done away with him long ago, and Vegeta would still have a _homeworld_. Frieza is a different breed.

Not that Kakarot has any idea. "Who is that, anyway? Frieza?"

The very idea of having to answer that question is mind-boggling — especially given that the person asking is someone from whom Frieza had taken everything, whether or not he knows it. Vegeta finds himself struck speechless for a moment, completely unsure how to even begin answering. It doesn't help that Kakarot just stands there and stares at him, patiently waiting for an answer; he doesn't even seem aware of what an absolutely ludicrous question he's just asked. 

Eventually, Vegeta is forced to look away, muttering a quick curse under his breath as he does so. "He destroyed our entire planet," he says. "I don't really know what else you want me to say."

"But _why?_ " Kakarot presses. "I mean, I've had to stop people from taking over the Earth a couple times, but that's different than _destroying_ it."

Vegeta isn't particularly interested in digging into that statement at the moment, so he elects to ignore it instead. "I don't pretend to understand the inner workings of his mind," he replies instead. "But he wanted to exterminate all Saiyans. We know that much. He rounded us all up — got everyone back on-world — and then he destroyed us."

His voice twists bitterly at the end, and he pauses for a long moment before looking back at the prince, biting back a stream of pointless invective — there's no point in cursing Frieza's name when there's not even anyone around to share that vitriol with, or, at least, there's no point when it would only mean explaining more to a person who can never possibly understand.

It's shocking, given that mindset, when he does look back at Kakarot and finds something almost familiar in the set of his mouth. There's a little glint in his eyes, too, that almost looks like the kind of rage Vegeta's felt burning in his stomach since the day he learned Sadala was destroyed. It's only for a moment, and the moment passes, and neither of them says anything to acknowledge it, but he _knows_ it was there. He knows what he saw.

That's the first moment since arriving on Earth when he feels genuine hope that this mission might not have been so pointless after all.

_That_ thought is uncomfortable enough that he turns away again, but he feels the idea settling in the back of his mind anyway, refusing to leave him alone. 

"At any rate," he mutters after a minute, more to distract himself than anything else. "He missed a few, obviously, but we've been firmly under his thumb ever since. And _that_ is why I came to find you."

There's no response to that; the words hang in the air between them until they eventually fade out, and Vegeta exhales sharply from his nose, turning to look at the horizon. That was more than enough standing around and talking about feelings, in his opinion; it's time to start thinking about hunting down something to eat, and that will be a good way to clear his head, too. 

Kakarot is still standing silently, his eyes wide with just the slightest flinty spark of rage, but when Vegeta turns and starts to walk away, he follows, and Vegeta lets him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aram — A basic unit of distance; approximately 7 kilometers.  
> vusaram — Plural of aram.
> 
> Wait just a liiiiittle longer to learn probably way more than you'll ever want to know about my self-indulgent Saiyan conlang. ;___; (AKA, wait for the next chapter.)


	3. Otebra (Tension)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you with eagle eyes may have noticed that the chapter count went up. ...yes. Sorry. I ended up restructuring my outline for the remainder of this fic, in part because this chapter was fighting me so hard, and part of that was realizing that I really needed two more chapters! The final chapter will probably be a bit shorter than this one, but we'll see. They always seem to take me by surprise.
> 
> Any any rate -- enjoy!

The fact that they can't stay on this empty little planetoid forever is inarguable; Vegeta has to reconnect with Raditz and Nappa at some point, and beyond that, it would be good to go somewhere where they can find supplies that aren't reliant on the local megafauna.

That said, he suspects that leaving here is going to be significantly more difficult than getting here had been.

"Are we even going to fit?" Kakarot asks, staring down at the pod dubiously. He keeps framing and reframing it with his fingers, then turning to squint at Vegeta for a moment, then looking down at his own body, as though he's trying desperately to run the mental geometry necessary to cram them both into the pod.

Vegeta scoffs. "We got here, didn't we?" Of course, Kakarot had been unconscious at the time, and while maneuvering his slack limbs hadn't been fun, Vegeta at least hadn't had to deal with another body moving around in the pod while he was trying to steer it.

"I guess," Kakarot replies. He scratches the back of his head absent-mindedly. "Why didn't you bring a bigger spaceship if you knew you were coming to get me, huh?"

"I didn't want to attract attention, obviously," Vegeta growls, although privately he thinks Kakarot may have a decent point there. In hindsight, he certainly wishes he'd stopped to secure a larger craft before he reached Earth, but then, he hadn't really had any idea what he'd find when he got there. He'd largely been expecting a desolate, destroyed rock and hoping there would at least be a hint or a sign to indicate where Kakarot had gone after clearing the planet; he certainly hadn't been expecting to have to haul a cheerful, smiling prince off-world with him as soon as he got there. 

He casts a quick glance to the side, takes in Kakarot still standing there staring at the ship like he's hoping it will suddenly double in size if he pouts at it enough, and snidely adds, "Of course, I could always leave you here while I went to get a larger ship, _your highness._ "

The bastard actually hesitates as though he's considering that for a moment, which makes Vegeta bristle. "No way," he says finally, but he still sounds almost reluctant. "I'm not letting you leave me here alone. What if you didn't even come back for me? I'd be stuck here."

"I wouldn't do that," Vegeta says, scowling. It's true, he wouldn't — if only because that would mean this whole ridiculous mission was a waste of time after all.

"Right," Kakarot says. "But just in case, we should go together."

Vegeta turns to glare at him. His expression is perfectly blank, the picture of innocence, except for a little bit of a sparkle in his eyes that's all too telling. All Vegeta can really do, though, is snarl and turn away again.

One way or another, if Kakarot is going to insist on going with him — and, honestly, Vegeta wouldn't actually leave him behind, regardless of what Kakarot's thoughts on the matter might be; there's no chance in hell that he's going to risk leaving him by himself on this random little planetoid, where anyone could stumble upon him or anything might happen while Vegeta is off securing them better transport — then they're going to have to squeeze back into the pod. On the way here, Vegeta had crammed Kakarot and then wriggled in on top of him, and while that isn't going to be half as comfortable with Kakarot awake this time around, he's struggling to come up with any other options. After all, he has to be able to reach the interface at the front of the pod in order to actually navigate the damn thing. 

They could try to squeeze in side-by-side, maybe, but that seems like a fairly dubious prospect, and not really any more comfortable, besides. It's just that there's something so humiliating about the idea of crawling into the prince's fucking lap that he'd do almost anything to avoid it.

He bites off a curse, gritting his teeth. All right. There's no point standing around staring at the pod slack-jawed. Either they go now, or he leaves while Kakarot is sleeping and hopes he can somehow get back before he wakes — and he doesn't even want to think about what Prince Raditz would say if he knew Vegeta had abandoned Kakarot, and, perhaps even more importantly, abandoned his mission out of a sense of personal discomfort, not when Kakarot could still be the difference between working in the PTO until they all die horrible, unceremonious deaths and actually getting out from under Frieza's fucking boots.

So. Into the pod they go. He turns to Kakarot, gesturing brusquely with one hand. "You first."

Kakarot nods, and ducks under the open hatch of the pod at last to settle himself into the curved seat. He seems to be making every effort to make himself as small as possible, which is almost amusing, for a man his size. It is also, of course, completely ineffectual: there's simply no getting around the fact that this pod was not designed for two fully-grown Saiyans. 

All right. Well. The longer Vegeta stares down at him, the more he feels like an idiot, so it's best to just... get this truly unfortunate chain of events under way. Steeling himself and setting his mouth firmly in a grimace, he ducks under the hatch himself and prepares to get in.

" _Oh,_ " Kakarot huffs, more of an exhale than an actual statement. Vegeta's expression grows three shades darker, but there's nothing for it but to continue levering himself down into the pod. Levering himself down, that is, onto — well — directly onto Kakarot's lap.

His tail is wrapped so firmly around his waist that it feels like it's starting to actually restrict the blood flow, but, of course, sitting across Kakarot's thighs — even perched as far forward as he possibly can — means that the base of his tail brushes against Kakarot's abdomen any time either of them moves even slightly, which is just... perfect. Just _wonderful_. And the most brilliant, amazing, glorious part is that Vegeta's disloyal nerve endings don't take nearly as much notice of _whose_ body he's crammed into this tight space with as he would like.

"So... where are we going again?" Kakarot asks, his voice slightly muffled.

"Away from _here_ ," Vegeta growls, and slams on the controls until the hatch whirs shut, sealing both of them into the darkness.

—

Of course, Vegeta _does,_ in fact, have a more specific destination in mind than just "not here," but it's more of a list of descriptors, as opposed to an actual location. The benefit of having access to the PTO's starmaps and planetary data is that it makes it easy to identify potentially suitable destinations; the downside is that it makes it quite difficult to identify potentially suitable destinations that aren't on the PTO's radar. Still, Vegeta has been doing this since he was a child. He's learned how to skirt the edges of PTO space pretty well by now.

The trip is brief, thank all the gods. He's not sure he could have put up with Kakarot's attempts at conversation for much longer. As it is, he scrambles out of the pod the instant they touch down on the world he identified as their best bet: Ortuvro, a relatively nondescript and unassuming place with several spaceports large enough that they should have no trouble securing a more appropriate vessel, which will be easy enough to explain away as spoils of war when Vegeta returns to the PTO in a different ship than he left in.

Kakarot is a little slower to exit the pod, but he stretches exaggeratedly as soon as his feet touch ground, groaning and carrying on like they'd been in the black for weeks, not a few measly hours. Vegeta doesn't dignify any of it with acknowledgement of any kind; he just stares right through Kakarot, dead-eyed, his mouth set in a scowl.

"I am going to go see what we're dealing with," he says as soon as Kakarot is done with his little performance. "And get you something to wear that isn't going to stand out like a blasted orange beacon. _You_ are going to _stay here_. In fact, if you'd like to stay _in_ the pod until I get back, that would probably be best."

"Why can't I come with you?" Kakarot replies, frowning. 

"Did you not hear what I just said? Your — whatever that thing is supposed to be is completely recognizable. It would be incredibly stupid for you to wander around dressed like that. It's too memorable." Vegeta turns away as he speaks, already busying himself with removing his armor so that he, too, will stand out a little less. There's a tiny cargo compartment tucked under the seat in the pod, from which he pulls a loose gray cloak. There's nothing he can do about his hair, really, or his tail, or the rest of his physical appearance — he's fairly obviously Saiyan, there's no getting around that — but at least this way he can't be immediately tied to the PTO. There aren't many other Saiyans out there who survived the destruction of Sadala, but there are a few, pirates and smugglers, mostly. His typical plan is to hope he'll be mistaken for one of those.

"What, my gi?" Kakarot says, frowning as he looks down at the garment in question, tugging at it a little. "I mean, I guess it's a little bright, but is it really that much of a big deal?"

"Yes," Vegeta says shortly. "Especially because you might as well be your father's clone. Looking exactly like the last king of Sadala will draw quite enough attention without adding clothing that looks like it's designed to attract as many eyes as possible."

"I guess," Kakarot replies. He stands there and fidgets with his clothing for a second more before shrugging, apparently having decided to move on and accept the situation. He immediately drops down into a stretch, contorting himself around presumably to work out the last effects of being crammed into the pod. "Well, hurry back, then."

"Stay _right here,_ " Vegeta stresses one final time, feeling like he's talking to a cub. He might as well be, really. Kakarot nods, flapping a hand at him almost dismissively, and he narrows his eyes. "I won't be held responsible for anything that happens to you if you wander off."

"All right, all right," Kakarot says, infuriatingly easygoing. Having finished his stretching, he flops down onto the ground, giving Vegeta a lazy two-fingered salute. 

Vegeta doesn't trust him not to do something stupid as soon as he's out of sight, but he also doesn't really know what he's supposed to do about it. For the time being, he's just going to have to trust that Kakarot truly does stay put, and hope that no one else happens upon him. The sooner he leaves, the sooner he'll be able to come back and get started on any necessary damage control, so he turns on his heel and quickly stalks away.

"Hey, bring back food if you find any!" drifts to him on the breeze just as he kicks off the ground and angles himself toward the nearest civilization, and while he doubts Kakarot will even be able to hear it, he grunts an assent. They haven't eaten since they left their last planet, after all. He's not unreasonable, and he's hungry, too.

This planet is far enough from any center of galactic industry or power that all of the ships look a little worse for wear, but, Vegeta decides as he casts an assessing gaze over the shipyards not much later, they'll certainly do well enough for his purposes. A little worn-down is, in fact, better than a shiny new cruiser, given his interest in flying firmly under the radar. It doesn't take long to find an appropriately-sized ship and make the necessary arrangements. Luckily, most everyone in the galaxy accepts PTO credits, especially given that this world is nominally in PTO space, and perhaps less luckily, nearly a lifetime in PTO service and plenty of opportunity to loot conquered worlds means Vegeta is more than capable of purchasing a junker on short notice.

With the most pressing order of business settled, he makes his way into the settlement proper. Food, and appropriate clothing that won't make Kakarot's presence blindingly obvious to anyone within eyesight, and then back as quick as he can to ensure the prince hasn't wandered off or gotten a little too friendly with any of the locals. Vegeta is a merciless and matter-of-fact haggler, and earns himself a few looks of grudging respect as he cuts through the marketplace with ruthless efficiency, but a few glares, too. 

The planet's twin suns are just beginning to sink lower on the horizon when he returns to the shipyard, collects his newly-purchased ship, and makes for the site where he'd left Kakarot and the pod. It isn't until he sees Kakarot sprawled out on the ground, exactly as Vegeta left him, that he realizes he was carrying all sorts of extra tension in his shoulders, which releases embarrassingly quickly as soon as he lays eyes on the prince.

Kakarot jumps — or, more accurately, flips — to his feet as soon as Vegeta starts to bring the ship in to land, his hair blowing wildly in the wind kicked up by the descent. He looks hilariously impressed, slack-jawed, even at this crusty old pile of scrap; Vegeta smirks to himself at the thought of how he'll react to seeing some of the PTO ships, which were actually built less than a lifetime ago and have seen the inside of a maintenance bay at least once. 

"Holy cow!" Kakarot shouts as soon as Vegeta kicks the hatch open and steps out to meet him. The ship has flattened a perfect circle of foliage in the landing process, and Kakarot is standing at the edge of it, kicking at it experimentally. "Where did you even _find_ that? It looks right out of the movies!"

Vegeta deigns not to ask what a movie is. "Surely you didn't think all ships were the size of that pod." 

"Well, no, but..." Kakarot trails off, gesturing up at the ship impotently. "It's just _so_ big."

"This is nothing," Vegeta informs him. He can't help that it comes out a little smug, even though there objectively isn't anything to feel smug about in this moment, other than just having more experience with interstellar travel than Kakarot does. He's certainly not proud of this ship, regardless of how blown away by it the prince apparently is. "Though I'll grant it will be significantly more comfortable than the pod."

"What good is that thing, anyway?" Kakarot asks, turning to look at the pod and wrinkling his nose. He's evidently already realized, in light of seeing a larger ship, that the pod is... not exactly on par with most other ships. "I can't believe even _you_ fit in there comfortably."

"I did when I was a child," Vegeta says shortly, "and as far as Frieza is concerned, what was good enough for us as children is more than good enough for us now." That's a slight oversimplification of the intentional humiliation of forcing them to travel in the pods whenever possible, but Vegeta doesn't exactly feel like digging into that for Prince Kakarot at this exact moment. Instead, he tosses a bundle of fabric at him, and then a purple fruit with a hard, thick rind, which Kakarot scrambles to catch.

That distraction works well enough: Kakarot is too busy taking enormous bites of the fruit — right through the rind, which Vegeta had been relatively certain was inedible, not that that seems to be stopping him — to even think about asking any more questions. By the time Vegeta has unloaded more food and started stoking up a fire just outside the ship, the topic has completely blown away on the wind.

— 

This planet gets far darker far faster than their previous location; it's dark enough by the time they're done eating, in fact, that even their relatively small campfire is making Vegeta nervous. It's likely visible from far around, and the last thing they want to do right now is draw curious onlookers. He'll stamp it out soon enough, and herd Kakarot inside the ship, but honestly, the idea of being in a small space with him is unappealing enough to have him putting that off as long as possible. He has a feeling, especially after their trip here, that the prince isn't one to do well with being confined.

He'd taken the new, significantly lower-profile clothing with little enough complaint, at least, which had been a relief. The less Vegeta has to grit his teeth and drag Kakarot through things, the better. It is a little strange to see him in such subdued colors, though; without realizing it, it seems he'd come to associate Kakarot with that ridiculously bright shade of red-orange. Seeing him in shades of gray and brown, even in the warm crackle of the firelight, is odd. 

"How can you speak our language, anyway?" Kakarot asks out of nowhere. The question is paired with an almost comically idiotic expression, as though the thought that it's strange they've been able to communicate all this time has just occurred to him. Part of Vegeta — the part that had been born the first time he'd been allowed to tag along with his father to the palace and caught a glimpse of King Bardock in his armor, and the same part which had glowed with pride at being chosen to join Prince Raditz's squad as a mere child — still twinges a little at thinking about how much of an idiot Prince Kakarot clearly is, but there's really no avoiding it at this point. He simply has to acknowledge it and move on.

Vegeta snorts, in part to clear that line of thought from his mind. "I can't." When Kakarot just stares at him, brow furrowed, obviously waiting for a further explanation — which Vegeta grudgingly has to admit is fair enough; they're talking right now, after all, and Kakarot doesn't seem to know a scratch of Saiya _or_ Standard — he sighs and taps a finger to his scouter. "Universal translator. One thing even I have to admit Frieza's forces gave us that we wouldn't have otherwise is superior technology."

Kakarot looks impressed. "So I could use that thing to talk to anyone?"

"In theory, yes. Though I'm sure there are still a few species out there whose language it can't replicate. Or, at the very least, a few whose language _you_ couldn't replicate. If you can't physically produce the sounds, there's nothing the translation program can do for you."

"So then," Kakarot says, scratching his head, "when you hear me talk, what does it sound like to you?"

"Like you're speaking Galactic Standard," Vegeta tells him, taking a brief moment as he does so to wallow in his own bitterness about that. He'd been born into a Saiyan culture already well used to being under the foot of the Cold Empire, of course, and so he's never really known anything _but_ speaking Standard, except when alone with other Saiyans, when their scouters come off. Regardless of the fact that it's all he's ever known, the reminder of Frieza's complete and methodical destruction of his culture still rankles.

"I still don't know what that even is," Kakarot mumbles, but he seems distracted, fidgeting with the hem of his top. "It would be nice to be able to talk to anyone, though."

"I suppose," Vegeta replies noncommittally. It certainly does have its advantages, but he's loathe to ascribe any sort of positive quality to Frieza's influence. Besides, Saiyans have done always well enough at conveying their meaning to beings of all races, even before the advent of scouters and universal translators. Victory and violence and strength need no translation.

Kakarot hums, tipping his head up to stare at the sky again, and then without warning he twists and flips until he's standing upright, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. "Hey, can we spar?"

It's well after dark now, and they're in an unfamiliar place where they don't really want to be attracting all that much attention, but Vegeta certainly isn't going to let that stop them. Especially not because the more they spar, the more he notices Kakarot picking up bits and pieces of Saiyan fighting style, slowly transforming the way he moves and holds himself. While it's still impossible not to look at him and see just how much the humans did to him during all those years on Earth, even Vegeta is forced to admit that those slow changes offer a hint of promise.

"I suppose if that's what it takes to keep you entertained," he grumbles, but the undercurrent of eagerness in his own voice is obvious, even to him. The speed with which he stands and steps away from the fire — and the ship; it would be incredibly irritating to have to take it in for repairs so soon because they couldn't keep it out of the way while fighting — is probably also telling, but he can't bring himself to mind.

Kakarot grins, falling into a fighting stance. The play of firelight across his face is primal; Vegeta is horrified to find that he almost shivers at the sight. "It's a good start, anyway."

He leaps forward without further warning, and Vegeta moves to meet him with a feral grin, his tail lashing behind him. They'll be gone in the morning, after all; there's no reason they can't do as much damage as they like to this area in the meantime. No one will find it until they're long gone.

—

"So where are we going next?" Kakarot asks. The fact that he apparently hasn't thought to question their destination before now, when they've been in space for an hour already, would perhaps be concerning, if Vegeta had any level of concern to muster for him.

Vegeta grunts. "For now, our main objective is not to be noticed," he says, which he feels is a relatively good way to conceal the fact that the actual answer to Kakarot's question is _I don't know._ This ship has bunks, though they're not large, and he'd stocked up on enough food at their previous stop to last even two full-grown Saiyans a little while; for now, he'd prefer not to set down on another planet until they absolutely have to, and stick to meandering aimlessly instead. He'll land or head for a station somewhere when they get low on fuel, but for the time being, they're playing a waiting game.

"Who's going to notice us all the way out here?" Kakarot asks, gesturing broadly at the viewscreen. "How do you find _anyone_ in space?"

"Not by looking out the damn window," Vegeta sneers. He bristles when Kakarot sticks his tongue out at him in response, the reaction so childish and asinine that he honestly doesn't even know how to react.

The conversation lapses after that, neither one of them picking it back up after Kakarot's little display of maturity; the prince continues to stare out the viewscreen, watching the stars crawl by and occasionally shifting in his seat, and Vegeta returns his attention to the navicomputer, where he's been busy applying his relatively limited hacking skills since the moment when they were safely out of atmosphere and he was able to engage the autonav function.

He may not be a technological genius, but no one survived in the PTO for long without learning how to get around the official communication channels. No one but idiots and bootlickers, at any rate, and Vegeta prides himself on being neither. He's quite confident that, with a little more time and effort, he'll be able to get a secure message to Prince Raditz — that had been part of the reason he'd been so intent on securing a larger ship, after all. The pod's communication tech was more limited, and harder to jury-rig; this old hunk of junk had its advantages, one of them being that Vegeta is far from the first person to use it for purposes that are less than legal in the eyes of the PTO. A lot of the hard work has already been done for him; all he's doing now is finding a good way to get to Prince Raditz's personal frequency.

The message he intends to send is simple enough: _Objective complete. Request rendezvous._ He'll encode it, of course, but he hopes that message would be discreet enough on its own, even without a cipher. He certainly isn't idiotic enough to send any direct references to Prince Kakarot; the consequences if one of Frieza's goons were to intercept and decode the message would be very dire indeed.

It's a good while after that before he finally sends off the message. The transmission itself is almost anticlimactic after all the work that went into it. He won't know for certain that it's been received until he gets a response, of course, but he isn't terrible concerned. His pride won't allow him to fail at this any more than at actually finding Kakarot and bringing him back.

When he finally looks away from the navicomputer and straightens up, his shoulders cracking a little, he finds that Kakarot has turned his attention from staring out of the viewscreen to staring directly at Vegeta. It's honestly a little shocking he didn't notice before; the prince's gaze is not exactly subtle, and now that Vegeta _has_ noticed it, it feels like a weight on his chest.

"What was all that about?" Kakarot asks after a moment, when Vegeta does nothing but stare at him with slightly raised eyebrows.

He considers for a moment, but ultimately, evasion feels more labor-intensive than just answering the damn question, and entirely pointless to boot. "Sending a message to your brother."

" _Really?"_ Kakarot asks, leaning forward in his seat. "Wait, how? What did you tell him?"

"We have secure communication channels," Vegeta says, though he's not entirely sure how much that statement will actually mean to the prince. Kakarot seems much more interested in the answer to the second part of his question, anyway, leaning forward even further when Vegeta says, "I only told him that I found you, and asked him to send us coordinates for a rendezvous."

"Aroundy-what?"

" _Rendezvous_." When Kakarot continues to stare at him expectantly, Vegeta grits out, "A _meeting_. I asked where he wanted to _meet us."_

"Oh!" Kakarot pauses for a moment, frowning. It's a remarkably thoughtful expression on the face of someone who Vegeta's been largely thinking of as entirely thoughtless. "Wait — is he going to have one of those things, too?" he asks, gesturing haphazardly at one of his own eyes.

Almost unconsciously, Vegeta reaches up to touch his scouter. "This? Yes, of course he will."

"Oh. Okay, good. I don't know how we'd talk otherwise." He pauses again, longer this time — long enough that Vegeta looks away, assuming the conversation has dropped. "Maybe I should, uh — learn a little bit of whatever language you guys speak anyway? Standard-whatever? Just in case?"

Vegeta is forced to admit, at least to himself, that he's completely shocked Kakarot would think to even ask a question like that. He hasn't exactly given off the impression of being a scholar up to this point. If he'd been raised on Sadala, of course, he would have learned Saiya and Standard and most likely several other tongues as well; Vegeta supposes that it's only right that he should learn them now, at least, even if the timeline is a little... delayed. 

"I suppose," he says, then sniffs a little. "Though I'm not teaching you Standard. Saiya should be your mother tongue."

The grin that takes over Kakarot's face is practically blinding. His whole body comes alive with excitement, his eyes lighting up, his fingers fidgeting. He leans forward, narrowing the distance between them. "Great! How do you say your name?"

Vegeta stares at him flatly. "What?"

"How do you say your name? In, uh, Saiya? I want to know what to call you," Kakarot replies earnestly, his eyes wide and his smile sunny and genuine. Vegeta represses the urge to sigh or swat him upside the head, neither one of which is an action which befits the honor owed to a prince, not that Kakarot knows or cares.

"It's the same, Kakarot," he says slowly, deadpan. "Names don't change like that. My name is Vegeta in Saiya and Standard and whatever language the Earthlings speak and every other language there is."

Well, there are probably exceptions — species whose bodies have trouble producing the same sort of sounds as are used in Saiya, for instance, would potentially need to translate or use alternate names — but that's not really the point right now, and he doesn't exactly want to add any confusion or additional factors to what he's telling Kakarot. He has a feeling they're going to have a hard enough time getting through this lesson as it is. The only reason he's even attempting to do something this asinine is that it rankles at his pride to see a Saiyan prince who'd stand no chance of communicating with his own people if not for Frieza's fucking tech, no matter how much of an idiot the prince in question might be.

"Oh," Kakarot says, deflating a little. "That makes sense, I guess. Well then how would I say — I don't know — hello?"

Probably the most basic possible place to start, and he and the rest of Prince Raditz's squad don't exactly go around exchanging niceties very much, but Vegeta supposes it will work well enough. " _Apra teran_ ," he says grudgingly, speaking a little slowly and exaggerating the enunciation. "Though it could depend on the time of day, and your social standing. You don't have to worry about that as much," he adds, snorting. "You can be as formal or informal as you'd like, with more or less anyone you come across. But the rest of us have to worry about things like that."

Of course, that's not true _anymore,_ given that the total population of Saiya speakers in the galaxy is now a handful at best, but Vegeta pushes that thought aside.

" _Apra teran_ ," Kakarot parrots back. 

His pronunciation is, of course, atrocious, and Vegeta corrects him: " _Apra teran."_

It takes several tries, but eventually Vegeta reaches a middle ground between satisfied and frustrated, and declares Kakarot's attempt good enough for now. Kakarot looks so enthused by that that it's almost funny, and turns the full force of that bright excitement on Vegeta. "What next?"

Vegeta grunts in response, frowning as he considers. It feels ridiculous to keep on just going down the line of basic vocabulary — _hello, how are you, my name is_ — but then again, it feels almost equally futile to start with anything else. For one thing, surely many concepts will be unfamiliar and too complicated for Kakarot to easily parse, and Vegeta certainly doesn't want this to turn into an entire damned sociology lesson. For another thing... well, that almost makes the indecision worse, because at a certain level, he could start _anywhere,_ couldn't he? What does it matter _what_ word he picks?

" _Rantam_ ," he says on impulse, glancing quickly at the prince, and then away again. 

Kakarot cocks his head to one side, sounding out the word slowly. "Ran-tam. What does that mean?"

"It means _brother_ ," Vegeta says. For a moment, he almost hears his brother's irritating, squeaky voice, calling after him as he went to train: _Rantam, rantam, take me to the palace, I want to come too—_

He almost rolls his eyes at the memory. All these years, and he still doesn't understand how a warrior like him came from the same line as a complete weakling like Tarble. Their people didn't produce many scholars, but that's certainly what his brother would have become; he wasn't exactly good for much else.

"Oh, I get it," Kakarot says, a grin slowly taking over his face. "So, when I meet my brother, that's what I can call him?" 

"I suppose," Vegeta says, a little more stiffly than even he intends. He shakes himself, trying to rid himself of the feeling, though he doesn't think Kakarot has even noticed, too busy repeating _rantam_ over and over under his breath. He doesn't think of his father and brother often, and this is why. It's utterly ridiculous, but even after all this time, stopping to think about them for too long produces this sort of reaction. 

"This is great," Kakarot enthuses, still smiling that big, silly grin as he leans back in his chair, far enough that it would tip if it weren't securely bolted down. "You've gotta teach me more! I can probably remember more than two."

Vegeta has his doubts about that, personally — in decided contrast to Tarble, or, for that matter, even to the prince's own brother, Kakarot certainly does _not_ have the mind of a scholar — but he hasn't quite gotten tired enough of this little farce yet to snap and shut it down. "All right," he concedes, on the hope that this way he can at least keep the prince occupied for the remainder of their journey, and starts wracking his mind for a group of new words to teach him.

—

Goku is sure that staring out of the windshield of the spaceship and watching the stars streak by is going to get boring eventually, but it hasn't yet. It's a little bit like meditating, actually, and while he was never the very best meditator in the world, it's something warmly familiar, a pleasant, comforting reminder of home.

It's a little bit funny, really, how he can remember a time when even Mount Paozu had felt like it was the biggest thing he could imagine. Then he'd left and started to see more of the world, and it had seemed like _that_ was all there could possibly be, all he could even think of. Now here he is, on a spaceship with a man from a whole other planet, who's taken _Goku_ to two other planets already. At some point, once they hear back from Goku's brother, they're going to visit a third. And there's so many more out there — thousands and thousands, probably even more than that. So many no one could ever count them, probably. Bulma told him something like that once, and obviously he's looked up every night of his life and seen the endless wash of stars, but... it's different to be out here _in_ that endless blackness. It's different to see it first hand.

And it's different to have concrete proof that the stars aren't just distant pinpricks of light sitting next to you looking grumpy, too. Goku almost smiles at the thought, turning sideways just a little bit to peek at what Vegeta's doing.

He honestly wasn't expecting Vegeta to be so open to the idea of teaching him Saiya. Not that they did all that much — his brain is swimming just with the few words they did go through — but, well, he was expecting to have to do a _lot_ more convincing in order to pull that off. Instead, Vegeta had been almost... not quite _eager_ , but definitely not pissed off that Goku had even asked, either. Goku watches him sit at the little computer console thingy that apparently controls the ship, poking at it and scowling every once in a while, and smiles a little, turning away again so that Vegeta won't see it and get mad. He's definitely still the same grouchy jerk that he was when he first kidnapped Goku and everything, but there's definitely a human side to him too. Uh — a Saiyan side? A side that seemed almost pleased to have someone to talk to about his language and his planet and everything, anyway.

There's a pleasant _ding!_ from the direction of the computer, and Goku whips back around again, staring at it with interest. This is the first time it's made a noise like _that;_ earlier, there were mostly buzzes and error-message sounds, while Vegeta cursed at it and banged it to try and get it to work. Vegeta is staring at it intensely, too, leaning so far forward in his seat that it looks like he's about to fall out, his eyes bright with satisfaction.

"What was that?" Goku asks, getting up and bounding towards Vegeta's seat so that he can get a look at the computer himself. Vegeta shoots a quick glare at him over his shoulder, clearly a warning, but he doesn't do anything more threatening than that, so Goku shrugs it off. Mostly, in fact, Vegeta looks satisfied, his lips curling up at the corners with just the tiniest hint of a smirk.

"Your brother," he says, and Goku freezes, suddenly almost quivering with excitement. "He sent coordinates."

He almost immediately starts to tap at the computer screen again — putting the new destination in, probably, though Goku sure as hell can't read whatever language that is on the screen. But that doesn't matter, because he's got better things to think about right now anyway, like the fact that they're on their way to meet _his brother_ , who's an alien prince and also, like, a real person, who's been alive the whole time Goku has, just out here in space instead of on Earth, fighting with other aliens and whatever else it is he does, exactly. Obviously he's known for a while that this was Vegeta's plan, but... it feels so much more _real_ now, especially when Vegeta makes one more triumphant stab at the computer screen and the ship's engines make a deep rumbling noise before it slows down and starts to turn, pointing them in a different direction than where they're been going before.

Shoot. Goku's _brother._ What is he even going to be like? Is he as much of a jerk as Vegeta, since they grew up together? Then again, he's come to like Vegeta pretty well, and plenty of his other friends had been jerks to him when they first met. Pretty much all of them, actually, come to think of it. So even if he's a jerk... well, Goku's made friends with jerks before. And if they're family, then that means it's that much more important for them to get along, right? So if he puts extra effort into it, maybe it'll go faster, and they won't even have to fight first, which is the way it's been with most of his other friends.

Then again, Goku thinks, remembering what fighting Vegeta is like and then remembering that Vegeta said that Raditz is even stronger than him, fighting him wouldn't be so bad. It sounds pretty exciting, actually, to fight someone that strong. Surely they can at least spar, right?

"How long until we get there?" he asks Vegeta, getting more excited at the idea of a fight, even though he has no real idea how long it will be until they get a chance. 

Vegeta glances at the computer. "Around six hours, at this speed."

" _Six!_ " Goku exclaims, dismayed. That's longer than he'd thought, somehow, though space _is_ awfully big.

"Six hours is nothing," Vegeta replies, rolling his eyes. He doesn't say it — this time — but his tone carries a pretty obvious _you idiot._ "Besides, there are only so many planets that make sense as a rendezvous point. We can't just pick the closest one at random."

"I know, I know," Goku grumbles, even though he doesn't _really_ know. He collapses back into his chair, slumping down a little. Six hours isn't all _that_ much, even, except for the fact that he was getting himself super pumped up thinking about fighting not three seconds ago, and now he knows he's not going to be able to do that for at least _six hours,_ and the spaceship is so small that there's not even anywhere he can go to get a good workout in. It's practically too cramped to _walk_ comfortably, let alone exercise, and it _definitely_ wouldn't be safe for him and Vegeta to spar in here. He doesn't know what would happen if they were to put a hole in the side of it, exactly, but he's pretty sure it would be bad.

So that leaves him with nothing to do but pout and think wistfully about all the fighting he hopes he'll get to do when they land. It's a good thing he's got a thought like that to distract him, too, because otherwise he might've spent the next six hours wondering about what his brother is going to be like, and it's much, much easier to wonder about fighting him than it is to wonder about _talking_ to him.

—

It's only when they reach the upper atmosphere that Vegeta starts to realize that something is very, very wrong. 

The closer they get to the surface, the more obvious it becomes. For the second time in barely a week, Vegeta finds himself guiding a ship down into an unfamiliar atmosphere with a growing sense of unease in his gut, but this time, it's for the literal exact opposite reason as it had been when he'd been approaching Earth. That planet had been too obviously pristine and untouched, too _whole_ , to set his mind at ease. Whereas this one...

Even Kakarot notices before long. "Whoa," he says suddenly, pressing his nose close to the viewscreen. He had been staring behind them, at the fire licking along the edges of the ship as they cruise down through the atmosphere, but now he looks down toward the ground, his mouth falling open. "What's going on down there?"

Vegeta knows, but doesn't answer, his mouth set in a grimace. He's too busy trying to figure out what to do next to bother with Kakarot's questions right now. 

Besides, on some level the answer to the prince's question is patently obvious. _What's going on down there_ is easy to observe: the fire and smoke and craters, scars in the planet's surface that become larger and more detailed the closer they get to landing, are hard to miss, and even if Kakarot doesn't have the same intimate knowledge of what put them there that Vegeta does, he ought to at least understand what they _mean_.

The strangest part is, though, that there are no PTO ships in the area. Vegeta knows this because he already checked, though he's checking again now all the same; he trusts Prince Raditz, but he also knows that things can change quickly out here in the black, so he ran a scan as soon as they entered this system. Nothing. PTO cruisers are generally hard to miss, and there weren't any when he checked before, and he scowls at the navicomputer as it confirms that there still aren't any now. And yet there are few forces in the galaxy that can manage the kind of destruction that he's seeing beneath them — very few indeed, now that Sadala is gone, and almost all of them work for Frieza.

It's possible that the PTO forces have just already cleaned out — it doesn't look like this planet was supposed to become an outpost. It looks like they took what they needed, and then they left. But Vegeta still doesn't exactly love that the place he's supposed to be having a clandestine meeting with his prince, with the intent of keeping Kakarot's existence firmly out of public knowledge, seems to have been recently visited by Frieza's men. He doesn't like that at all.

Still, he doesn't stop their descent, either, at least not until they're close enough to the ground that it's easy to get a good look at what's going on below. All the while, he's running scans on the ship's less-than-powerful computer, occasionally banging on the side of it in an attempt to get it to go faster, and as the results slowly come through, they confirm what he's starting to realize from just staring at the planet's surface himself: there aren't any PTO forces on this planet anymore, and, in fact, there's not anyone left on this planet at all.

He brings the ship to a slow stop in the air, hovering as he considers his next move. Kakarot, his nose still pressed to the viewscreen, is silent; he hasn't spoken, or really moved at all, since that initial question, though his eyes grew ever-so-slightly wider at every result the computer read out in its soothing metallic voice. _"Minimal biological presence detected. Warning: geological instability likely. Surface temperature indicates potential risk to most species."_

The surface temperature looks pretty high, all right — particularly the areas that are actively burning.

Which is most of them.

The obvious thing to do here, perhaps, would be to contact Raditz and Nappa and tell them to pick a different destination, because this one's been compromised. There are two things, however, holding Vegeta back from doing that. One: there still aren't any signs of PTO forces actively present on this planet, and he's more than familiar enough with their tactics to know that if not even a skeleton crew was left behind, they probably already got everything they wanted and aren't planning on coming back. And two: every single time he contacts Prince Raditz, he's taking a risk. If even one of those transmissions were to be intercepted — whether it could be decoded or not — it would be more than enough proof for Frieza to know that something was going on, and that would be the end of it. It would quite possibly be the end of _them_.

He grits his teeth, frowning deeply as he stares down at the navicomputer. Which is the greater risk? Which offers the greater potential reward? There is, ultimately, nothing to say that the _next_ planet they go to won't also be a recent PTO acquisition — and nothing to say that, in that case, there might not still be troops left behind on the surface, or ships in orbit. In a way, this is one of the safest places they could be. If there's no reason for Frieza's men to return, then they're certainly less likely to come here than they would be to visit any world that _hasn't_ already had a PTO force bowl it over.

Yes. That's as close to a logical decision as he's likely to get in a situation like this. He sighs through his nose, grimacing as he opens his mouth to speak, but after all of that time he spent deliberating and strategizing, before he actually gets the chance to say a word, he's interrupted. 

"Let's go down to the surface," Kakarot says lowly. 

Vegeta stares at him, partly shocked by the fact that he'd spoken up at all, and partly by the tone of his voice. It's unlike anything Vegeta's heard from him before — serious, for one thing, and dangerous.

Well, that's not quite true. He's heard this kind of tone from the prince once before: on Earth, right before they fought. His tail flexes around his waist, the hairs standing up a little bit as he finds himself suddenly completely alert, tracking the prince's every move.

"It's safer to wait in the ship until your brother arrives," Vegeta tells him, narrowing his eyes. "That way, if we need to leave quickly, we're already in the air."

The look Kakarot sends him then is so deadly serious that it makes his back go impossibly straighter, his shoulders tensing. 

"Vegeta," he says, and for once he sounds like the prince Vegeta had gone to Earth expecting. "Let's go down to the surface."

Vegeta pauses to think for just a moment. Then, reluctantly, he reaches for the controls and tips the ship's nose down toward the ground.


	4. Sidrir (Decision)

It had looked bad enough from the air. Goku has thought he had some idea of what they'd find when they finally landed; he'd thought it couldn't possibly be any _worse_ than what it looked like from above.

It's worse.

Way worse.

He thinks, uncomfortably, of King Piccolo, hell-bent on wiping entire cities off the map and declaring himself ruler of the rubble. This is so, so much worse than that, for two reasons. One: it's not just one or two cities that are gone. Goku supposes he hasn't actually _seen_ that the entire planet is destroyed, but he _knows_ it's true on a level that's too bone-deep to ignore. He certainly can't feel any ki anywhere at all, except for his and Vegeta's, no matter how far he stretches his senses. And two: there's not even anyone around to laugh at the ashes or gloat over the cracked, empty earth. Whoever did this — they just _left._

Vegeta's silent beside him as they walk through what might have been a beautiful city a few days ago, slowly making their way further from the ship, but not so far that they couldn't get there in a hurry if they needed to. This destruction is relatively fresh; there are still fires burning in the distance, even, and the dust seems like it's barely settled. And even without _those_ signs that the battle — if something like this can even be called a battle — wasn't so long ago, there are the bodies: slumped against empty doorways, laid out in the middle of the street, hanging out of windows. Pale, and bloodless, and starting to decay, but not so far gone that they can be more than a few days old, maybe a week at most.

They're completely inhuman, bright red and feathered and so skinny they almost look like they're made of toothpicks, but that doesn't make the effect any less horrible. Goku's got a strong stomach, but this level of pointless, horrible violence almost makes him feel sick. A whole planet. An _entire species_. And whoever did it didn't even bother to stick around. They just left the planet floating in space alone, the whole thing one massive graveyard.

A _whole planet_. 

"How did this happen?" Goku asks, not stopping to look at any individual body for too long. That's not really the question he wants to ask; he knows _how_ this happened. He understands the mechanics of it well enough, and he even understands, intimately, the level of power this would take, the sheer ability and energy and cruelty. Those things make sense to him. What he doesn't understand is _why._

_"_ This is standard for the PTO," Vegeta replies, and his tone is short and brusque enough that Goku turns to stare at him in shock. His expression is flat, deadpan; he's clearly still less than happy that Goku convinced him to land, and that they're wandering farther and farther from the ship, but he doesn't actually seem all that upset about their surroundings. Heck, he's being downright _casual_ about it, stepping over bodies in the street like it's absolutely nothing to him. "This planet must have had some resource they wanted, though I have no idea what. They got what they wanted and left. The rest is just what happens when the locals try to fight back, or when the troops are especially bored."

" _Bored?"_ Goku blurts, his heart thudding in his chest. 

Vegeta narrows his eyes, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. But he also shrugs, cocking one eyebrow slightly. "I told you Frieza destroyed our entire planet. Did you think his men were any better?"

"I don't know," Goku mumbles back at him, frowning, which Vegeta doesn't even bother to dignify with a response. The conversation dwindles and fades away completely as they keep walking, winding their way through the rubble with no clear destination in sight.

—

The longer they walk without any sign of PTO forces, the more Vegeta relaxes. The planet truly is deserted, it seems like, meaning that he doesn't need to try and quickly warn off Raditz and Nappa; this won't be an entirely auspicious place for the princes to meet for the first time since childhood, but it ought to be safe from further interference from the PTO, at least.

It troubles him a little to see how hard Kakarot seems to be taking this. It doesn't bode well; it's not as thought they would even be able to keep him shielded from the bloodshed once they start gunning for Frieza, and the idea that they'd bother to try is laughable. Vegeta knows without a doubt that Prince Raditz would kill his brother himself before he coddled him like that. Even Vegeta has to admit, however, that this level of destruction _is_ eye-opening the first time you see it. Granted, the first time he saw something like this, he was only a few years old. For Kakarot to be so taken aback as a grown man is less sympathetic.

He thinks that it might actually have been easier for Kakarot to brush off the destruction if the planet _had_ been entirely annihilated. It's hard to mourn space dust unless you were around before to know what the space dust was in its past life. At some level, in that case, he would have just been taking Vegeta's word for the whole thing, anyway; without any tangible proof left over, what would there really be to say that anything had even _happened_ here? But instead, with the way things have turned out here, he's confronted with undeniable proof, all around them, stinking up the air with the putrid scent of decay.

Eventually, they reach what seems to be the center of the city, the streets and buildings opening up suddenly into a wide plaza, bordered on all sides by ornate, expansive buildings, heavily decorated and — even more interestingly — heavily defended, or at least more so than anything else they've seen thus far. There are fences topped with plasma wire, large weapons strewn across the ground, and, perhaps most tellingly of all, more bodies piled up in front of these buildings than they've seen in the entire time since they landed. The look like they literally climbed on top of one another even as they were dying, trying to protect whatever was inside, building a wall of flesh in a doomed attempt to stop the PTO with sheer numbers.

There's one building in particular that catches Vegeta's attention, and he gravitates toward it immediately, deviating from his his position at Kakarot's shoulder in the interest of trying to see what these buildings can tell them about the battle that was fought here. The more they can find out about Frieza's and the PTO's actions, the better, and things don't always get reported in the PTO databases accurately, if at all.

This building, out of all the others, has the most bodies piled up outside — a dubious honor, but an indication that this one was especially important, and that's not the kind of information that Vegeta's going to just disregard. There was something in here that the locals were trying to protect, something the PTO obviously wanted. Whatever it was will be long gone, of course, but there are still little hints to what it might have been. The closer Vegeta gets, especially as he steps over some of the bodies and starts to actually walk around the perimeter of the building, the more he starts to pick up on: this almost looks like some kind of manufacturing facility, or perhaps shipping. 

He frowns and backtracks a little, back to the center of the plaza where Kakarot is standing. Maybe he'll be able to get a better picture if he can make some sense of this whole area — he'd have assumed government buildings, some kind of palace, perhaps, but the more he looks around, the more he sees industrial equipment, large tools, machinery. It's not exactly a typical thing to keep at the heart of a city. Ultimately, though, he supposes it doesn't matter at all; either way, the place had still been destroyed.

"I get it now," Kakarot says quietly, from somewhere behind him. Vegeta doesn't turn to look; his own gaze is still fixed on the destruction around them, assessing, trying to glean what he can from the rubble of what this place one was.

"What?" he asks, only half paying attention. Damn it, but Raditz and Nappa will be here soon; he'd like to figure out _now,_ rather than after they've arrived, exactly what the PTO was after here. That knowledge will help confirm that this place is safe, now that the fighting is over, or if he should send a last-minute warning, taking the risk on convincing Raditz to stay away. Whatever it is Kakarot's got in his head can wait, surely.

Except then there's a shift in the familiar energy pulsing behind him. Kakarot has always felt _warm_ , somehow, as though even his energy mirrors his stupidly sunny disposition. But in the moments Vegeta wasn't paying attention, that warmth has morphed, mutated. He instinctively shifts away, because it feels like Kakarot has come to stand right behind him, even though a shocked glance over his shoulder confirms to Vegeta that he hasn't moved. And then in the next moment, it's as though Kakarot is not just next to him but _around_ him, surrounding him from all sides in an energy that's like the touch of pure electricity, hot and sharp, and which is like an immense, incalculable _pressure_.

When he turns to look — really look — he finally realizes the full extent to which he's been a fool this entire time. All along, he had thought Kakarot was an anomaly, strange and soft: a warrior, maybe, a formidable fighter in his own right, but something less or other than truly Saiyan, no matter his heritage.

He had thought Kakarot was weak. Instead, Kakarot is _this._

Vegeta has no idea — absolutely no idea — what is going on right now, which he's not exactly happy about, but he's too busy trying to scrape his jaw up off the ground to really even be upset. All he knows is what he can actually observe with his own senses: the faint crackle of electricity around Kakarot's fingertips, the glint of something primal in his eyes, the way his hair seems to whip in a wind that's not otherwise affecting their surroundings. Unbidden, for just a split second, Vegeta feels something almost like nervousness, and then something like awe. 

He may not know what's going on in the slightest, but he knows it's beyond anything he would have thought possible a few days ago. _Kakarot_ is beyond anything he would have thought possible. In this instant, he is completely undefinable, unlike anything Vegeta's ever seen or known.

And the moment he has that realization, of course, is the moment when he hears the familiar whine of engines bursting through atmosphere as Raditz and Nappa finally arrive.

—

Goku doesn't register the noise of an approaching engine until it suddenly cuts out. The only thing he's really processing, at the moment, is the rushing in his ears, and the feeling of power and grief and pure, incandescent rage dancing in his throat, sparking along his skin. 

There's something just under the surface, something he never realized he had inside of him — something strong. Strong, and _angry._ And looking around at all of this destruction, an entire planet wiped out like it's _nothing_...

He feels a little off-balance, a little bit like he's about to fall out of a very tall tree, and he has no idea what's going to happen when he hits the ground. 

The sudden silence caused by the engine cutting out catches his attention, though, and he turns around, attention captured by the change in his surroundings. It's only then that he notices Vegeta, who's standing with his body angled between Goku and a ship that's just landed a little ways off — and who looks _defensive,_ almost... shocked, even. And he's not looking at the ship like that, at whoever just arrived — he's looking at _Goku_.

It's enough of a surprise to see him like that that Goku feels himself snap out of his bad mood, just a little. The rushing in his ears starts to fade away as he and Vegeta stare at each other, both of them relaxing slowly, in sync, as the tension seems to bleed out of the air. As he slowly comes down, Goku's anger starts to be replaced with confusion: what _was_ that? He's never felt anything like that before. He's been angry before, obviously, and he's gathered and focused his ki when fighting, and that's _almost_ what that had felt like. But there had been something more to it, almost, something he has no context for. And he has a terrible feeling in his gut that whatever just happened wasn't even the full extent of it; he remembers that feeling of being on the edge of a cliff or the top of a tree pretty clearly, and he still doesn't know what would have happened if he'd been pushed out into the open air.

He takes a step toward Vegeta, and to his shock, Vegeta takes a step _back_ , falling into a defensive stance as he does so. Goku's surprise and hurt must show on his face — he thought they'd moved past being that on-edge with each other — because Vegeta relaxes a second later. He looks and sounds defensive as he says, "Oh, you'd be a bit on edge too, if _I'd_ done what you just did."

"I don't know what that was," Goku says. This time, when he takes a step forward, Vegeta stays planted in place, though he still doesn't seem entirely comfortable. "Vegeta, I —"

Sudden movement from the ship that had landed behind them stops him in his tracks. Vegeta immediately spins around, and then, to Goku's surprise, drops to one knee, bowing his head briefly.

_Oh, right,_ Goku thinks. _My brother's a prince._

"Well, well!" says the tall, broad-shouldered man who's just shoved himself out of the top of the ship. The ship in question is a lot bigger than Vegeta's pod, but Goku can't help but think it must have still been a bit cramped for a guy that size — especially when a second pair of wide, strong shoulders pops out of the ship right after him. 

The man that's spoken is definitely Raditz, based on the way Vegeta is reacting, but Goku looks at him with narrowed eyes, feeling a bit doubtful. They don't really look all that similar, as far as he's concerned. If they're brothers, shouldn't they have more in common? Raditz is definitely taller, and while Goku's always been told his own hair is pretty wild, Raditz's is an entire mane, blowing behind him in the wind and reaching halfway down his back. Goku lived in the woods on his own for _years,_ and his hair never got that long.

"I didn't know you had that kind of power in you, pup," he says, and Goku feels mouth twitch downward. _Pup,_ like... puppy? Who calls another person _puppy?_ And he doesn't like the feeling that his power is being challenged, either. 

He doesn't say anything, but he tenses up a little without really thinking about it. And Raditz just keeps coming closer and closer, passing by where Vegeta is still kneeling on the ground until he and Goku are nearly nose to nose. Goku really, _really_ doesn't like having to look up at him — he doesn't like feeling like he's at a disadvantage here, even though he can feel Raditz's ki easily enough and he's not going to pretend it isn't _massive,_ more than he's ever felt before — and he especially doesn't like the way Raditz is smirking down at him. His eyes are cold and glittering, and his lips curl over canines that seem just a little too pointed.

Everything about him is screaming at Goku that he's dangerous — worse, he realizes suddenly, glancing quickly at the remains of carnage all around them, that he's dangerous enough and powerful enough _to have done something like this_. The thought feels like a jolt straight through his chest, and without meaning to, he actually glances away from Raditz for a second, looking at Vegeta instead. They're part of Frieza's army, and Frieza's army did this, but... the pieces hadn't really come together in Goku's head until now. When he tears his gaze away from Vegeta — slowly standing, though his head's still bowed in deference, his neck exposed — the glare he pins on his brother is even more intense than before. 

There's a heavy moment that narrows to just the two of them, the world around them fading to perfect silence and stillness, Raditz smirking with all his teeth and that smug, cold look in his eyes, and Goku glaring right back, his hands balled into fists. Then, all at once, the moment breaks, and before Goku even realizes what's happening, he's being pulled forward.

"Look at you!" his brother crows, and Goku blinks as he finds himself held at arm's length by a hand on the back of his neck and another one cupping the side of his head. He relaxes without even thinking about it, sinking into the hold Raditz has got on him, and is met with a blinding, wolfish grin. "You _broke the fucking power sensor_. That ship is practically made of paper, and the sensor was older than you are, but still." 

"Oh," Goku says a little blankly, then winces slightly as Raditz leans in even further and rubs their cheeks together. Despite himself, he's finding it almost impossible not to lean into the physical affection. It feels _right_ , somehow, familiar even though it totally isn't familiar. 

Raditz pulls away, though still he keeps Goku at arm's length, slinging one arm over his shoulders and propping the other one on his own hips. "I can't believe we actually found you after all this time. I have to admit, I'm impressed," he adds, his voice growing a little louder as he gestures briefly to Vegeta. "Where did you even find him, Vegeta? I wasn't expecting to hear back for quite some time."

" _I_ thought you'd be coming back to us with your tail between your legs," says a new voice, and Goku's attention is drawn to the man who he'd briefly noticed climbing out of the ship after Raditz. He's just as big — bigger, actually — and bald. Goku has the momentary thought that maybe Raditz got all his extra hair by stealing it right off this guy's head, and bites down on a smile at that mental image. 

"Oh, leave him alone, Nappa," Raditz says, sounding amused. "Vegeta gets at least a day off from your bullshit after bringing me Kakarot."

The bald man — Nappa, apparently — grins, and ruffles Vegeta's hair, which Goku thinks is remarkably brave of him. Vegeta looks just about like he wants to bite the offending hand off, but settles for snarling and swatting Nappa away instead.

Raditz watches them with evident amusement, but after a moment of Nappa and Vegeta horsing around — Nappa with a wide grin, and Vegeta with a scowl — he clears his throat a little, and within moments, both of them settle down, turning their attention to Raditz. It's honestly impressive; Goku's a little surprised to see Vegeta acting like this. So... deferential. The respect he has for Raditz is obvious. It's weird to see, is all, after the way he and Goku have fought and all the snark he's sent Goku's way.

"So," Raditz says, crossing his arms across his chest. "Where did you find him, Vegeta?"

Vegeta automatically straightens, his shoulders going back and his arms straight at his sides as he begins to report. "He hadn't left the planet his pod was originally sent to," he says, and Raditz's surprise is obvious from the way he turns to look at Goku, eyes narrowed. "The locals had removed his tail."

"No," Raditz says, grabbing Goku and physically spinning him around to verify that — sure enough — there's no tail at the base of his spine. " _How?"_

"He appears to have lost all memory of our people," Vegeta says, a little more quietly. "He had no idea who he was."

Raditz says something under his breath that's clearly a swear, but when he speaks, diving into what sounds like a more detailed breakdown of Vegeta's actions and what's happened since the last time they saw each other, he's still directing his attention at Vegeta, not paying much attention to Goku at all. It's almost like he's not there at all, honestly; they're talking about him, talking over him, but Raditz isn't actually paying him any attention anymore.

Goku frowns. When he reaches out and grabs Raditz's shoulder, all three Saiyans freeze, and turn to look at him immediately, which is a little gratifying. Raditz and Nappa both look a little shocked, but Vegeta doesn't look surprised at all.

"I know I don't know anything about, uh, our people," he says. "And I wasn't trained to fight the way you were. I was raised on Earth, among humans. I'm not... I'm not a Saiyan the same way you are. But when I saw this, I knew I..." He pauses for a moment, looking around him at what had once been a planet bustling with life and activity, and is now little more than an empty shell, still smoking, the acrid smell of the burning dead still clear in the air. "I can't go on living on Earth like nothing's happening if stuff like this is happening out there. It isn't right." He pauses again, and for just a second, he makes eye contact with Vegeta, who's staring at him with something like vicious satisfaction, and then with Raditz, who looks ever so slightly amused. "Please, let me go with you. Let me fight with you. I want to help."

"You know we're not taking Frieza down so that we can have the whole galaxy hold hands and talk about friendship instead," Raditz warns, crossing his arms. "This isn't a moral crusade; this is vengeance and nothing else. We'll do destruction on this scale, maybe worse, just like our people have done since the very beginning. If you're too soft for that, then don't come."

Goku feels his face flicker for a second, a frown threatening to take over as he considers that. It does turn his stomach a bit, thinking that he comes from — apparently — a whole planet of people who have been doing horrible, horrible things for longer than he can even really comprehend. But then, after a moment, he smiles at his brother, so broadly and cheerfully that Raditz actually looks a little taken aback. "That's okay. Maybe while we're fighting together, I'll even have a chance to convince ya!"

All three Saiyans stare at him, with expressions in various shades of incredulous, and, in Vegeta's case, resigned. Raditz snorts, but then he clasps Goku's arm, grinning. 

"If you really believe that, then maybe you really are crazy enough to join us on this little doomed crusade," he says, and then pulls Goku in for another rough, tactile hug, which Goku squirms out of after a moment, laughing.

"Eh, he'll learn soon enough," Nappa says, with a hearty laugh, and Raditz chuckles in evident agreement. Vegeta's the only one who looks a little dubious, but neither of the others seems to catch it; only Goku notices the way their eyes meet, and the way Vegeta briefly lifts one eyebrow before turning his face away, not looking convinced by the idea at all. 

He doesn't say anything, though, and the moment passes, Raditz turning to Vegeta in the next heartbeat and asking, "Where is your ship?"

"A few _vusaram_ that way," Vegeta says, indicating the direction he and Goku had come from, and Raditz nods, indicating his own ship with a quick gesture.

"We'll take this one for now, then," he says, Vegeta and Nappa both nodding in affirmation. "It's shit, but it got us here, at least."

"Where are we going?" Goku asks, glancing between Vegeta and his brother quickly. It's Nappa, though, who answers, grinning broadly at him with a look in his eyes that makes Goku feel distinctly afraid for the first time since all of this started, really. 

"I'm going to put you through your paces, your highness," he says, and Raditz laughs even as Goku pales at the pure bloodthirstiness in his voice.

"Nappa was head of the royal guard once," Raditz explains, leaning down as though he's muttering a secret directly into Goku's ear. "And given that you've been out in the asscrack of the galaxy your whole life, we're going to need him to train you up a bit, I think."

That doesn't sound so bad, though the look on Nappa's face does still make him a bit nervous. "And then what?"

"And then," Raditz says with another of his wide, toothy smirks, gesturing up at the sky this time, as though to encompass the entire universe at once, "we see what you and I can do when we turn ourselves loose out there."

He claps Goku on the shoulder, and then unceremoniously disengages, walking over to Nappa and grabbing him by the arm instead, towing him along while quickly striking up a conversation Goku definitely can't follow, full of names and places he doesn't know and has no context for. That leaves Goku and Vegeta, both of them staring after the other two, standing a few feet apart and not speaking.

Goku eventually glances sideways — subtly, he hopes — only to find that Vegeta's already turned to look at him, watching him with an expression that's totally unreadable and a glint in his eyes that makes something warm spark in Goku's belly.

"That went pretty well, huh?" Goku says, after a long, slightly uncomfortable moment of the two of them just looking at each other. He means Raditz, but it's hard not to think about everything that had led up to meeting his brother for the first time, too — everything from Vegeta showing up on Earth in the first place to now, the two of them standing on a dead planet, preparing to help Goku's long-lost space alien prince brother stage a rebellion against an evil dictator who blew up their homeworld.

Jeeze. And he thought his life was sometimes a little crazy _before_ all of this.

Vegeta snorts, raising one eyebrow. " _That went well?_ Really?"

"Well, it did!" Goku says defensively, though he has to bite down on a grin when he sees the way Vegeta is so obviously trying not to laugh. It's nice, the idea of making him smile. He doesn't seem like he's probably ever been the kind of guy who smiles a lot, but, Goku realizes, Vegeta smiling is something he'd like to see from time to time.

"I suppose," Vegeta replies. There's an incalculable moment where the two of them each seem to realize there's something just out of sight, something slowly making its way toward them, but neither of them acts on it, and neither of them even really acknowledges it. 

Goku, eventually, is the one to turn away — just slightly, just enough so that they're not quite looking at each other anymore, but it's enough. Vegeta huffs a little and says, "We should catch up," and without further preamble he turns and starts to follow Raditz and Nappa, who are already most of the way back to their ship by now. Goku watches him go, and feels his heart do something funny at the picture he makes: the broad shoulders under his armor, all that compact muscle.

He takes a deep breath in, spending one more moment just watching before he starts to follow after them. Eventually — and hopefully not _too_ long from now — he'll need to get in touch with his friends, maybe go back to Earth if he possibly can, even if it's just for a little while. He wants to let them know he's okay, and tell them what he's doing, and that it might be a while before he can come back home. But, for now, it's enough to know he's going to be fighting for something important — fighting side by side with his brother, even, which he hasn't ever even thought was something that could happen. And side by side with Vegeta, too, who's something completely different than any other person Goku's ever known, and who's come to mean more to him than even he had really realized.

He's got a lot to look forward to. Grinning to himself, he kicks off the ground and soars over to catch up to the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, it's done! 
> 
> I won't say for sure whether I will or won't ever continue this story -- obviously there's a lot that could still be said about the actual process of taking Frieza down, etc., etc. -- but this is the getting-the-band-together part. And, well... this was originally supposed to be a oneshot for Kakavege Week, so. 
> 
> Thanks for reading -- I hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/akaparalian) and [Tumblr](http://floralegia.tumblr.com)!


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